Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda RC213V) stormed to his 11th pole position of the season at sunny Aragon this afternoon, finally getting the better of a strong challenge from team-mate Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC213V). The Spanish pair will start first and second on the grid for the third time this season.

Reigning World Champion Marquez had ended the first day of practice second fastest behind Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) and upped his game today as his engineers fine-tuned his RC213V for this challenging and undulating circuit. He topped free practice this morning and claimed pole position with an impressive 0.362 second margin over Pedrosa, the fastest-ever motorcycle lap at Aragon. It was his 20th MotoGP pole from 32 starts in the premier class.

Most riders have commented on the track surface's relative lack of grip, with tyre performance dropping significantly after several laps. Marquez claims this isn't a problem for him because he's happy riding the bike loose. This afternoon he left his best till last, retaking pole from Pedrosa on his final lap, even though his tyres weren't fully up to temperature for the first part of that lap.

Tomorrow the 21-year-old aims for his 12th win of the year, which would equal the record for the most victories claimed during one season, currently held by Mick Doohan who won a dozen races in 1997 aboard a Repsol Honda NSR500.

Both Marquez and Pedrosa will be going for Repsol Honda's fourth consecutive victory at Aragon. Last year Marquez won here, in 2012 it was Pedrosa and in 2011 it was Casey Stoner.

After yesterday's first two practice sessions Pedrosa focused on improving cornering grip and braking which this afternoon allowed him to go fastest for some minutes before Marquez retaliated at the very end of the session. Like everyone else, Pedrosa knows that the run to the first corner here is one of the shortest in MotoGP followed by a very sinuous first section, so a front-row start is more important than ever here.

Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda RC213V) will start the race from the middle of the third row after putting his RC213V between Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) and Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) in eighth position. Bradl's best lap was just 0.68 seconds off the front row and he believes he would've been closer to the front if he hadn't made a couple of minor errors during his best lap.

Hiroshi Aoyama (Drive 7 Aspar Honda RCV1000R) rode an inspired final lap of qualifying lap to put himself 14th on the grid. This was one of his best performances of the season. It puts him just ahead of Alvaro Bautista (Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini RC213V) and half a second in front of the next RCV100R rider Scott Redding (Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini RCV1000R), who struggled with set-up. Neither was Bautista happy, the Spaniard lacking rear grip as at recent races.

Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing Honda RCV1000R) badly damaged one of his bikes in a crash at the end of qualifying but believes he has the pace to run a good race. He will start from 17th place on the grid.

Nicky Hayden (Drive 7 Aspar Honda RCV1000R) made his comeback following further surgery to a troublesome right wrist injury and was 18th this afternoon. The 2006 MotoGP World Champion had the scaphoid and several other bones removed from the wrist during July and his been recuperating since. The wrist isn't a major problem but after more than two months off a MotoGP bike, he's not fully race fit.


Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda: pole position, 1m 47.187s

"Qualifying went very well, continuing the form that we have had so far this weekend! We have focused a lot of our work on our race pace, looking less at setting a one-off lap time and more at finding a strong pace. Things are looking good for the race, although Dani also has a very good pace, so we'll have to see tomorrow!"

Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 2nd, 1m 47.549s

"Today we had a good qualifying session. In other races we have had difficulties because we haven't started from the front, but today we managed to set a good lap. I think that the practice sessions also went well for us, and tomorrow in the race we will be as competitive as possible. Marc is setting some very good times, so we will try to fight for the win against him! It will be important to get a good start, although the race is long and the pace will play a big part, so we will have to keep our concentration on every corner."

Stefan Bradl, LCR Honda MotoGP: 8th, 1m 48.368s

"First of all we improved a lot our bike compared to yesterday. We made a big step in handling and the general setting so this is the good point for this morning FP3 and this afternoon FP4. We have shown a constant and good pace so I am looking forward to the race because we found a good solution for tomorrow. Unfortunately in Q2 I made few mistakes and could not set a perfect flying lap. Our potential is higher but we missed a few tenths to qualify in the second row due to my errors. Anyway eighth fastest is not a drama because we still have a good pace to catch the guys in front and I am sure we can take several positions in the race."

Hiroshi Aoyama, Drive 7 Aspar Honda: 14th, 1m 49.209s

"In the Q1 session we did a great job, thanks to which we could get our fastest time of the weekend and nearly qualify for Q2. But the Ducati riders improved greatly in the last sector and we just missed out. Nevertheless we are happy because we have made much progress since yesterday. Now the configuration of the bike helps me ride more comfortably, so I hope we can keep this feeling for tomorrow. Overall we all pretty set to race, only tyre choice leaves some doubt. The positive thing is that we could race with either of the two compounds we have in mind, so we will wait until tomorrow to make a decision."

Alvaro Bautista, Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini: 15th, 1m 49.274s

"I miss rear grip, like the other races, and even with a new tyre I cannot use all the potential of the bike, therefore I'm struggling a lot. I could not enter Q2 today, so tomorrow I will start from the back of the grid, but apart from that it's frustrating riding in this condition because it's like taking risks everywhere, just to go one second slower compared to our rivals. This is not a good feeling, for sure! Tomorrow anyway I will give my best, trying to take my rhythm and finish the race: it's all I can do, because at the moment, with this feeling, it's impossible to go fast."

Scott Redding, Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini: 16th, 1m 49.703s

"It was a difficult day: the set-up solution we tried during FP4 to try and make the bike better for me was not really good, so we went back to the old setting for qualifying. We still need to work tomorrow because the situation hasn't improved compared to yesterday. It's going to be a long race and even though it will be difficult, we will give our best to try to be top Honda production racer."

Karel Abraham, Cardion AB Motoracing: 17th, 1m 49.790s

"I'm quite disappointed, especially after the job we did in the morning. In fact I made a better lap time in free practice than in qualifying. I got into a group of riders at the beginning of Q1 and couldn't ride as I wanted. The bad luck came at the end of the session. I was trying to stay close to Valentino, but I lost the front in Turn Three. I'm okay, but the bike stayed rolling straight and hit the wall in 180 km/h, so it's really heavy damaged. We don't know the reason of the crash yet, because we can't download the data yet. However, I'm far from giving up this weekend. We have made very good job in free practice and we can do it also in the race."

Nicky Hayden, Drive 7 Aspar Honda: 18th, 1m 49.835s

"In the third practice session I didn't have a good feeling and we lost a lot of time riding with used tires. We did make a couple of very productive steps, in qualifying I couldn't go as fast as I wanted. I do not know why but the bike was sliding more than in the earlier sessions and the feeling changed. Now we will look at the data to understand the cause, because we lost a lot of time in two specific corners, due to the bike sliding a lot. We knew this wouldn't be an easy weekend, but we're still working hard and that's what really matters. Tomorrow we will continue trying to evolve and have a good race."

Qualifying position

1 Marc Marquez 1'47.187 ESP HONDA Repsol Honda Team
2 Dani Pedrosa 1'47.549 ESP HONDA Repsol Honda Team
3 Andrea Iannone 1'47.685 ITA DUCATI Pramac Racing
4 Pol Espargaro 1'47.865 ESP YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
5 Cal Crutchlow 1'47.897 GBR DUCATI Ducati Team
6 Valentino Rossi 1'48.226 ITA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
7 Jorge Lorenzo 1'48.246 ESP YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
8 Stefan Bradl 1'48.368 GER HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP
9 Andrea Dovizioso 1'48.542 ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
10 Aleix Espargaro 1'48.568 ESP FORWARD YAMAHA NGM Forward Racing
11 Bradley Smith 1'48.810 GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
12 Hector Barbera 1'48.991 ESP AVINTIA Avintia Racing
13 Yonny Hernandez 1'49.051 COL DUCATI Pramac Racing
14 Hiroshi Aoyama 1'49.209 JPN HONDA Drive M7 Aspar
15 Alvaro Bautista 1'49.274 ESP HONDA GO&FUN Honda Gresini
16 Scott Redding 1'49.703 GBR HONDA GO&FUN Honda Gresini
17 Karel Abraham 1'49.790 CZE HONDA Cardion AB Motoracing
18 Nicky Hayden 1'49.835 USA HONDA Drive M7 Aspar
19 Alex de Angelis 1'50.263 RSM FORWARD YAMAHA NGM Forward Racing
20 Danilo Petrucci 1'50.635 ITA ART IodaRacing Project
21 Michael Laverty 1'51.280 WAL PBM Paul Bird Motorsport
22 Broc Parkes 1'51.489 AUS PBM Paul Bird Motorsport
23 Mike De Meglio 1'52.181 FRA AVINTIA Avintia Racing

Championship standings

1 Marc Marquez 289 pts ESP HONDA Repsol Honda Team
2 Dani Pedrosa 215 pts ESP HONDA Repsol Honda Team
3 Valentino Rossi 214 pts ITA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
4 Jorge Lorenzo 177 pts ESP YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
5 Andrea Dovizioso 142 pts ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
6 Pol Espargaro 98 pts ESP YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
7 Andrea Iannone 92 pts ITA DUCATI Pramac Racing
8 Aleix Espargaro 92 pts ESP FORWARD YAMAHA NGM Forward Racing
9 Stefan Bradl 74 pts GER HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP
10 Bradley Smith 74 pts GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
11 Alvaro Bautista 64 pts ESP HONDA GO&FUN Honda Gresini
12 Scott Redding 55 pts GBR HONDA GO&FUN Honda Gresini
13 Cal Crutchlow 47 pts GBR DUCATI Ducati Team
14 Hiroshi Aoyama 43 pts JPN HONDA Drive M7 Aspar
15 Yonny Hernandez 38 pts COL DUCATI Pramac Racing
16 Karel Abraham 33 pts CZE HONDA Cardion AB Motoracing
17 Nicky Hayden 28 pts USA HONDA Drive M7 Aspar
18 Michele Pirro 11 pts ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
19 Colin Edwards 11 pts USA FORWARD YAMAHA NGM Forward Racing
20 Broc Parkes 7 pts AUS PBM Paul Bird Motorsport
21 Mike De Meglio 4 pts FRA AVINTIA Avintia Racing
22 Danilo Petrucci 4 pts ITA ART IodaRacing Project
23 Alex de Angelis 3 pts RSM FORWARD YAMAHA NGM Forward Racing
24 Michael Laverty 2 pts WAL PBM Paul Bird Motorsport
25 Hector Barbera 2 pts ESP AVINTIA Avintia Racing
26 Leon Camier 1 pts GBR HONDA Drive M7 Aspar
27 Michel Fabrizio 0 pts ITA ART IodaRacing Project

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