PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
MotoGP’s Mr. Perfect has done it again. Marc Marquez earned his ninth pole of the season for the Repsol Honda team at Brno. That top spot for tomorrow’s Czech Grand Prix helps his odds of staying undefeated, a feat that would beat Giacomo Agostini’s record of winning the first 11 Grands Prix of the season. But according to Marquez his focus is not on the record books, but making sure he gets on the podium.
“Honestly the most important [thing] tomorrow is finishing on the podium,” Marquez said. “Tomorrow I expect a tough race. I’m confident, but I expect that Dani [Pedrosa] will be strong. Also Valentino [Rossi], we will how his finger is, but I think he will be strong too. And then Jorge [Lorenzo], I expect a little bit more in FP4, but for some reason he was losing.”
It was a tight session, with the top 11 all within a second of Marquez’ fastest time. And in the number two spot – for the second week in a row – was Ducati’s Andrea Dovisioso who beat his future teammate Andrea Iannone on the Pramac Ducati by just 0.012. Iannone led with less than three minutes to go in the session, following a fast Marquez across the line. But it was short lived as Marquez took that top spot back on the next lap.
The fastest qualifying Yamaha was Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Bradley Smith who moved up to fourth in the final moments of the session. Behind Smith was Marquez’ teammate Dani Pedrosa and Movistar Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo.
Lorenzo’s teammate Valentino Rossi starts on the third row in seventh. Rossi injured his little finger in a crash earlier in Free Practice 4 after setting the fastest time of the session.
LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl advanced from the first Qualifying session to finish eighth. Rounding out the top 10 was the Espargaro brothers – Pol Espargaro on the Tech 3 Yamaha and Aleix Espargaro on the NGM Forward Racing Yamaha.
2014 Czech Grand Prix Qualifying Results
1. Marc Marquez (Honda) 1:55.585
2. Andrea Dovisioso (Ducati) 1:55.714
3. Andrea Iannone (Ducati) 1:55.726
4. Bradley Smith (Yamaha) 1:55.730
5. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 1:55.812
6. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 1:55.815
7. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 1:55.821
8. Stefan Bradl (Honda) 1:55.871
9. Pol Espargaro (Yamaha) 1:55.899
10. Aleix Espargaro (Yamaha) 1:56.090
