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Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez has taken his first pole position of 2015 in sensational fashion for tomorrow’s Red Bull GP of The Americas. His teammate, Hiroshi Aoyama – standing in for Dani Pedrosa – qualified in 18th for the twenty one lap race.
With rain threatening to arrive at anytime, the MotoGP riders were thankful to have a dry day at the Austin track after yesterday’s difficult conditions. Marc led this morning’s FP3 and FP4 and confirmed his place in Q2. Hiroshi improved throughout the day but was unable to reach Q2 and sealed his 6th row start from 18th place with his time of 2’05.086.
As the 15-minute Q2 session got underway, Marc took provisional pole on his first exit. After returning to the pits for a fresh rear tyre, Marc exited back on track but encountered a warning light on his dashboard, so as a safety measure he switched the bike off, HRC engineers are looking into this issue. Thankfully this happened on the pit straight and Marc was able to sprint back to his garage to jump on his second bike. The fast reactions of his team meant the bike was already running as he approached the garage and with 2’27 remaining Marc made it back out on track – demoted to 7th as other riders posted faster laps.
He passed the start / finish line with seconds to spare and immediately pushed his Honda RC213V to the limit. Marc lit up the timing screens in all sectors and took a stunning pole position with his time of 2’02.135 smashing his own record from 2014 by over half a second (2’02.773) and 0.339 faster than second place Dovizioso.
Marc Marquez - 1ST 2'02.135
“I'm happy, because after having a problem we were able to come back and set the fastest time. It was rather different to what we are used to, because when I crossed the line for the first time with the second tyre I saw a warning light on the bike. When that happens, we are normally advised to shut off the engine. I was able to get out again on the second bike and cross the line right at the cut-off point to put in a final lap, which worked out well for us. It's important, because tomorrow we are expecting an eventful race with the unstable weather conditions. If the race is dry, then I'm ready. If it's wet, then we will have to see how things go in the moment!”
Hiroshi Aoyama - 18TH 2'05.086
“Today we were fortunate to have dry conditions all day and in each session I have improved but it wasn’t easy. During qualifying I had an issue with chatter but still bettered my time, however, it wasn’t enough to get a good grid position. I still have room to improve in time for tomorrow’s race so I hope it’s dry. I’ll try to find a few tenths in different places to allow me to move up in the standings.”
1 Marc Marquez 2'02.135 ESP HONDA Repsol Honda Team
2 Andrea Dovizioso 2'02.474 ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
3 Jorge Lorenzo 2'02.540 ESP YAMAHA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP
4 Valentino Rossi 2'02.573 ITA YAMAHA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP
5 Cal Crutchlow 2'02.613 GBR HONDA CWM LCR Honda
6 Scott Redding 2'02.674 GBR HONDA Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS
7 Andrea Iannone 2'02.792 ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
8 Aleix Espargaro 2'02.869 ESP SUZUKI Team Suzuki MotoGP
9 Pol Espargaro 2'03.161 ESP YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
10 Bradley Smith 2'03.440 GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
11 Danilo Petrucci 2'03.741 ITA DUCATI Pramac Racing
12 Maverick Vinales 2'03.754 ESP SUZUKI Team Suzuki MotoGP
13 Hector Barbera 2'03.926 ESP AVINTIA Avintia Racing
14 Stefan Bradl 2'04.275 GER FORWARD YAMAHA Forward Racing
15 Yonny Hernandez 2'04.313 COL DUCATI Pramac Racing
16 Mike De Meglio 2'04.392 FRA AVINTIA Avintia Racing
17 Eugene Laverty 2'04.875 HONDA Drive M7 Aspar
18 Hiroshi Aoyama 2'05.086 JPN HONDA Repsol Honda Team
19 Jack Miller 2'05.156 AUS HONDA CWM LCR Honda
20 Loris Baz 2'05.214 FORWARD YAMAHA Forward Racing
21 Karel Abraham 2'05.261 CZE HONDA AB Motoracing
22 Nicky Hayden 2'05.569 USA HONDA Drive M7 Aspar
23 Alvaro Bautista 2'05.595 ESP APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini
24 Alex de Angelis 2'06.145 ART Octo IodaRacing Team
25 Marco Melandri 2'07.267 APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini
Championship standings
1 Valentino Rossi 25 pts ITA YAMAHA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP
2 Andrea Dovizioso 20 pts ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
3 Andrea Iannone 16 pts ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
4 Jorge Lorenzo 13 pts ESP YAMAHA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP
5 Marc Marquez 11 pts ESP HONDA Repsol Honda Team
6 Dani Pedrosa 10 pts ESP HONDA Repsol Honda Team
7 Cal Crutchlow 9 pts GBR HONDA CWM LCR Honda
8 Bradley Smith 8 pts GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
9 Pol Espargaro 7 pts ESP YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
10 Yonny Hernandez 6 pts COL DUCATI Pramac Racing
11 Aleix Espargaro 5 pts ESP SUZUKI Team Suzuki MotoGP
12 Danilo Petrucci 4 pts ITA DUCATI Pramac Racing
13 Scott Redding 3 pts GBR HONDA Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS
14 Maverick Vinales 2 pts ESP SUZUKI Team Suzuki MotoGP
15 Hector Barbera 1 pts ESP AVINTIA Avintia Racing
16 Alex de Angelis 0 pts ART Octo IodaRacing Team
17 Stefan Bradl 0 pts GER FORWARD YAMAHA Forward Racing
18 Nicky Hayden 0 pts USA HONDA Drive M7 Aspar
19 Mike De Meglio 0 pts FRA AVINTIA Avintia Racing
20 Marco Melandri 0 pts APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini
21 Loris Baz 0 pts FORWARD YAMAHA Forward Racing
22 Eugene Laverty 0 pts HONDA Drive M7 Aspar
Dramatic Austin qualifying as Marquez takes pole in final moments with record lap
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