Photography by Gold & Goose
Marc Marquez continued to pull rabbits out of his hat. On Saturday the defending MotoGP World Champion made a last-second charge in qualifying to outdo his Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa to earn the pole for Sunday’s MotoGP race at MotorLand Aragon. Marquez clocked a lap record 1:47.187 to earn his 11th pole of the season. He’ll be joined on the front row by Pedrosa (1:47.549) and Pramac Ducati’s Andrea Iannone (1:47.685).
Hector Barbera recovered from an eventful Friday when his Avintia Ducati burst into flames while he was riding it. The Spaniard rallied on Saturday to come through in Q1 to make it to Q2. Racing a Ducati GP14 for the first time this season, it marked the first time this year that Barbera made Q2.
Valentino Rossi had to come through Q1 to make it to Q2. He topped the Q1 session on his factory Yamaha and ended the final qualifying in sixth position.
Q2 opened with Marquez to the top of the charts with a 1:47.680, the fastest ever lap at Aragon. He bettered that on the next flying lap with a 1:47.572. That was nearly 9-10ths faster than Andrea Iannone, the second fastest rider in the first half of the session.
Bradley Smith crashed the Monster Energy Tech 3 Yamaha with three minutes to go looking to end his session.
Suddenly with about two minutes remaining Pedrosa broke through with a stunning lap of 1:47.549 on his Repsol Honda. At about the same time Andrea Dovizioso crashed, but was quickly up and looked OK.
On the final lap Marquez responded to his teammate’s challenge and came up with an extraordinary 1:47.187, compare that to last year’s pole time of 1:47.804 and you could see there was major advancement with Honda’s program at Aragon this season.
Aleix Espargaro looked furious at Hector Barbera as Espargaro felt that Barbera balked him coming out of the final corner on his best lap.
American Nicky Hayden returned to action after a four race absence. The former World Champion qualified his DRIVE M7 Aspar Honda in 18th with a 1:49.835.
Pedrosa thought for a moment he had managed pole positon.
“I was on pole for a little while,” Pedrosa said. “Actually I pulled out a good time on the second tire. We were happy with that performance, because normally I’m not that strong in qualifying. So today front row and this is key for tomorrow and the race. I’m hoping to do a good start like we did in practice. I’m looking forward to the race.”
For Marquez he said his pole-winning time was a bit challenging because he started the lap on cold tires.
“With the first tire I felt good and did a good lap time,” said Marquez, who reached the 20th-career MotoGP milestone today. “I didn’t expect that Dani or somebody would be faster. With the second tire I was playing with Andrea a little bit, but then when I started the last lap I saw P2. And then I pushed a little bit and T1 (turn one) was difficult because the tire was too cold. But then in the rest of the circuit I pushed 100 percent and in the end I get the pole, so I’m very happy for that. Tomorrow we will check the weather and try to do our best.”
There is a chance of rain in Sunday’s forecast.
The MotoGP race from Aragon starts at 8:00am Eastern and will be shown live on Fox Sports 1.
MotoGP qualifying from MotorLand Aragon – Sept. 27, 2014
1. Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 1m 47.187s [Lap 7/7] 328km/h (Top Speed)
2. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 1m 47.549s +0.362s [6/8] 329km/h
3. Andrea Iannone ITA Pramac Racing (Desmosedici) 1m 47.685s +0.498s [7/7] 332km/h
4. Pol Espargaro ESP Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 1m 47.865s +0.678s [6/8] 327km/h
5. Cal Crutchlow GBR Ducati Team (Desmosedici) 1m 47.897s +0.710s [5/6] 327km/h
6. Valentino Rossi ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1) 1m 48.226s +1.039s [6/8] 328km/h
7. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1) 1m 48.246s +1.059s [6/8] 327km/h
8. Stefan Bradl GER LCR Honda MotoGP (RC213V) 1m 48.368s +1.181s [6/8] 330km/h
9. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team (Desmosedici) 1m 48.542s +1.355s [2/4] 331km/h
10. Aleix Espargaro ESP NGM Forward Racing (Forward Yamaha) 1m 48.568s +1.381s [3/7] 321km/h
11. Bradley Smith GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 1m 48.810s +1.623s [3/5] 328km/h
12. Hector Barbera ESP Avintia Racing (Desmosedici) No Time
13. Yonny Hernandez COL Pramac Racing (Desmosedici) 1m 49.051s
14. Hiroshi Aoyama JPN Drive M7 Aspar (RCV1000R) 1m 49.209s
15. Alvaro Bautista ESP Go&Fun Honda Gresini (RC213V) 1m 49.274s
16. Scott Redding GBR Go&Fun Honda Gresini (RCV1000R) 1m 49.703s
17. Karel Abraham CZE Cardion AB Motoracing (RCV1000R) 1m 49.790s
18. Nicky Hayden USA Drive M7 Aspar (RCV1000R) 1m 49.835s
19. Alex De Angelis RSM NGM Forward Racing (Forward Yamaha) 1m 50.263s
20. Danilo Petrucci ITA IodaRacing Project (ART) 1m 50.635s
21. Michael Laverty GBR Paul Bird Motorsport (PBM-ART) 1m 51.280s
22. Broc Parkes AUS Paul Bird Motorsport (PBM-ART) 1m 51.489s
23. Mike Di Meglio FRA Avintia Racing (Avintia) 1m 52.181s
