PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso stole Repsol Honda’s thunder by taking pole position in the final moments of the second MotoGP qualifying session in Qatar.
Although Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez led the way the first two days of the weekend, it was actually Dani Pedrosa that set the pace early in the session. That was until Dovizioso beat Pedrosa by .217 of a second on the softer tire option that the rules allow Ducati to run.
Dovizioso felt good about his pace, but pointed out that his new machine—the Desmosedici GP15—was making its racing debut tomorrow and that beating Marquez was still going to be difficult.
“Yes, we have a question mark because we never did a race with this new bike,” Dovizioso said. “But the feeling with the bike is much better than last year. Our pace in free practice four was very fast, was the same as Marquez. Will be difficult to fight with him tomorrow, but our speed is there and I arrive to the qualifying with a really good feeling and with the soft tire made a very good lap.”
Pedrosa set his fast time on a medium rear tire (the softest option for the factory bikes), and even though it wasn’t pole position, he felt that getting that spot on the front row was still important.
“Was one of the first things to do this weekend [get on the front row] because we could see the lap times were very, very close,” Dani Pedrosa said. “Might be my fastest time here at this track so I’m very happy with that.”
In third was teammate Marquez, who was also happy with a front row grid position and felt his error was that he pushed too hard.
Leading the second row is Dovizioso’s teammate Andrea Iannone ahead of Pramac Ducati’s Yonny Hernandez on the Desmosedici GP14.2. Movistar Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo completed the second row in sixth, a feat that Lorenzo was worried would be difficult after yesterday’s FP3 times were so close.
Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Bradley Smith was seventh after edging out Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Maverick Vinales in the final moments of QP1 to improve his grid position in QP2. Behind Smith was Lorenzo’s teammate Valentino Rossi. Although starting from eighth at the season opener is less than ideal, Rossi finished second in last year’s race in spite of qualifying 10th. Completing the third row in ninth was Hernandez’ teammate Danilo Petrucci, who also advanced from QP1.
Rounding out the top 10 was Smith’s teammate Pol Espargaro, finishing ahead of his older brother Aleix on the other Team Suzuki Ecstar machine. CWM LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow ultimately dropped down to 12th after crashing in turn 14 towards the end of the session. American Nicky Hayden on the Aspar Honda will start tomorrow’s race in 17th.
Although times were not as tight as yesterday’s FP3 session, the top 11 were still within under a second of Dovizioso’s top time.
2015 MotoGP Qatar Qualifying Results
1. Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) 1:54.113
2. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 1:54.330
3. Marc Marquez (Honda) 1:54.437
4. Andrea Iannone (Ducati) 1:54.521
5. Yonny Hernandez (Ducati) 1:54.675
6. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 1:54.711
7. Bradley Smith (Yamaha) 1:54.732
8. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 1:54.851
9. Danilo Petrucci (Ducati) 1:54.876
10. Pol Espargaro (Yamaha) 1:55.004
