PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez led the way to take his second consecutive MotoGP pole position at Termas de Rio Hondo for tomorrow’s Grand Prix of Argentina. Setting a 1:37.802—just .119 of a second shy from his track record set last year—Marquez used a three pit stop strategy (which he had used before at Jerez) to keep improving and stay up front.
“I am happy today, because we were able to fight for pole and eventually got it,” Marquez said. “It was a lot of fun, because we used a three-tire strategy and it worked well. It was important to start from the front tomorrow, because the track is quite dirty and that makes it harder to overtake. We’ll see what happens, we expect a pretty tough race with even higher temperatures than today. My strongest rivals – Jorge [Lorenzo] and Valentino [Rossi] – are starting from the second row, so I hope to have a good start and a strong race.”
Using the same strategy was Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Aleix Espargaro who ended the session in second. The older Espargaro brother was a bit disappointed to be shy of pole position, but happy to earn the second spot in what was only Suzuki’s third race back in its return to MotoGP.
Andrea Iannone kept Ducati’s front row streak alive by qualifying third.
In qualifying I was unable to put together a good complete lap, and it’s a pity that I missed out on the front row by so little, but it’s not a big problem,” Iannone said. “In my opinion it will be a very difficult race because everyone will have to manage their rear tires, but we are fast and so it will be very important to get a good start. Only in the race will we really see what the pace is, but above all who will manage to be consistent for the whole 25 laps.”
In fourth was an unhappy Cal Crutchlow on the CWM LCR Honda who felt he had the pace for a front row start.
“I made a mistake one time on my own to miss a lap, but the two other times I came up behind a slower rider,” Crutchlow explained. “Lorenzo decided in the middle of the lap that he wanted to go fast, but then in the last sector was really slow and I nearly hit him. I lost three-tenths in that sector, which would have put me second. This is racing though, and we start from fourth. I’m disappointed because we had the pace to be in the 1‘37s, our ideal lap was easily there so we are positive because of this.”
Behind Crutchlow was Movistar Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo who also set a 1:38.485. Lorenzo was perhaps equally unhappy after having an issue during his practice starts after the session and had to catch a lift with a photographer back to parc ferme.
Iannone’s teammate Andrea Dovizioso was sixth, .718 of a second down from Marquez. Danilo Petrucci was seventh on the Pramac Ducati ahead of Lorenzo’s teammate Valentino Rossi. Maverick Vinales was ninth, giving Team Suzuki Ecstar another top 10 grid spot in Argentina. Rounding out the top 10 was Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Bradley Smith who advanced to Q2 after leading Q1.
2015 MotoGP
Termas de Rio Hondo
Qualifying Results
1. Marc Marquez (Honda) 1:37.802
2. Aleix Espargaro (Suzuki) 1:38.316
3. Andrea Iannone (Ducati) 1:38.467
4. Cal Crutchlow (Honda) 1:38.485
5. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 1:38.485
6. Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) 1:38.520
7. Danilo Petrucci (Ducati) 1:38.786
8. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 1:38.890
9. Maverick Vinales (Suzuki) 1:39.187
10. Bradley Smith (Yamaha) 1:39.197
