Honda MotoGP rider Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team RC213V) – in only his second race back after arm surgery – proved the strength of his recovery with a strong challenge for a front-row start in tomorrow’s Italian Grand Prix.

Pedrosa’s lap time was swamped in the closing stages of the final Q2, when Open-class riders made use of their softer, grippier tyres, and he ended up leading the third row. But the 29-year-old veteran Honda rider was less than four-tenths of a second slower than Ducati rider Andrea Iannone’s pole position, on the long and fast lap of the spectacular and scenic Mugello circuit in the Apennine foothills.

The former 125cc and double 250cc World Champion withdrew after the season-opening Qatar GP to undergo highly specialised surgery to address persistent arm-pump, which was spoiling his performance. He returned two weeks ago at Le Mans, where a strong run over full race distance showed his recovery was on target. After two more weeks of therapy and training, Pedrosa will be closer to full strength for tomorrow’s race.

Luck was not on the side of his illustrious young team-mate Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team RC213V), who’s defence of his double MotoGP World Championship has not been altogether smooth. A trademark pole-to-chequer win in round two in Texas and second at his home Spanish GP showed his usual potential, but a non-finish in Argentina means he currently lies fourth overall.

Marquez had a troubled first three free practices, which meant he missed the top ten and had to join the Q1 qualifying session. A spill in the fourth free session was a further set-back. He needed to finish in the top two of Q1 to go through to join the top 12 in Q2, but was pipped in the closing seconds, and will start tomorrow’s race from 13th on the grid.

Marquez is a former 125cc and Moto2 World Champion, and won the MotoGP crown at the first attempt in 2013, following up with a dominant 2014 season.

Top Honda for tomorrow’s race, round six of 18, is satellite team rider Cal Crutchlow (CWM LCR Honda RC213V). He qualified fourth for the third time this year, to lead the second row. It is the former World 600 Supersport Champion’s first year with Honda, rewarded already with a podium finish in Argentina.

Another Englishman rides the fourth Factory Option Honda, but former Moto2 runner-up Scott Redding (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda RC213V) is finding the adaptation to the powerful machine more difficult. He qualified 17th, on the sixth row.

Four riders campaign the Open category Honda RC213V-RS, a close replica of the factory machine, but using lower-grade control electronics in exchange for softer tyres and more fuel.

Honda’s veteran 2006 World Champion Nicky Hayden (Aspar Team Honda RC213V-RS) was the best, qualifying 19th, one place ahead of Czech ace Karel Abraham (AB Motoracing Honda RC213V-RS), who is the sole rider using Showa suspension.

Class rookie Jack Miller (CWM LCR Honda RC213V-RS) qualified 23rd, one place ahead of fellow-rookie Eugene Laverty (Aspar Team Honda RC213V-RS). The 20-year-old Miller, from Australia, walked away from a tumble today.

Cal Crutchlow, CWM LCR: 4th, 1m 46.657s

“I’m an imbecile because I made a mistake on my best lap. I lost two tenths in one corner and that would have been pole. Nothing would have given me more delight than doing that in Mugello. We knew Ducati were going to be really strong in qualifying with the soft tyre. Iannone took advantage. I’m disappointed to be on the second row but this is racing. I haven’t been on the front row all year. I make my own bed and I have to lie in it. Not that it matters too much because you’ll see Marc fighting for the podium even though he’s so far back.”

Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team: 7th – 1m 46.875s

“Today went a little better. We were able to improve our pace, go faster and place a little higher up in the standings. We have taken a step forward with our lap time. However, the timesheet was very tight and we didn’t get a very good position on the grid so tomorrow we will need to get a good start.”

Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team: 13th – 1m 47.240s

“We can’t be happy about today, because this was the worst qualifying result that we have had in MotoGP. Starting in the morning, we didn’t use the new tyre and that took us into Q1 – in which we had a problem that prevented us from progressing to Q2. Nevertheless, I think we have a good pace for tomorrow, although it is clear that starting from so far back we will suffer a lot. We will try to make a good start and opening few laps to get into the leading group.”

Scott Redding, Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS: 17th, 1m 48.120s

“I went faster with the old tyre than the new and I don’t know why. There was quite a lot of traffic with everyone waiting and that’s really frustrating. Because we don’t have the soft tyre we have to push for the whole lap. The tyre didn’t work as well as I was expecting but even on my last lap, when I was on for a personal best in the first two sectors, Hernandez pulled off the track at the last corner when I was outside him and I nearly hit the back of him. It’s frustrating. You feel like you make steps forward and then you get pushed back again. The race is longer and our race pace isn’t bad, but our one lap pace is still a weakness at the moment.”

Nicky Hayden, Aspar Team: 19th, 1m 48.298s

“It was really close out there. The bike has not been so far away but we haven’t been able to kick the door down and bust into the 1m 48s like we need to. Things went much smoother today than yesterday. I thought with my last tyre I could do a good lap time, but I had a big slide in turn one that cost me a little time and the chance to get closer to the front. The bike is working ok, we don’t have big problems. But we need a little more from the bike and the rider, because the level is really tight. I’m confident for the race. It’s long and hard here but we’ve got a couple of ideas.”

Karel Abraham, AB Motoracing: 20th, 1m 48.366s

“Today was a hard day again. We worked a lot on the rear suspension because we had a lot of problems from the previous races. The bike seems better for a lap or two. We were not sure about race distance... we need to make longer runs. In the morning we tried and it was good until I had a big crash, at nearly 200 km/h. In the afternoon I think I was a little out of sorts from the morning crash. I’d hoped to follow someone in qualifying, but I couldn’t, so I did it by myself. Twentieth is not really great but Hayden and Baz are very close and I’m really happy with the lap time.”

Jack Miller, CWM LCR: 23rd, 1m 48.572s

“I’m happy to be riding here at Mugello. I’m really enjoying it as it’s an amazing track, although completely different on a MotoGP bike… It’s a real eye-opener! Yesterday we made some big steps with the bike and I became more comfortable. Today we worked on the smaller settings, but I had a crash which spoiled my chances. We were closer to the leader yesterday. For the race, we will keep working hard. If I can stick with riders like Nicky Hayden, I can learn a lot.”

Eugene Laverty, Aspar Team: 24th, 1m 48.638s

“The lap time was a big step and an improvement, but the position is not what I wanted. It was really frustrating to get pushed down. I got some good slipstream on my first lap and I tried to look for someone on my second tyre but there was 10 seconds of clear track behind me. I had to go alone. It was a good lap time but here the slipstream can really help so I’m angry to drop down to 24th. Also, if you have someone as a reference on the blind corners, you can squeeze a little bit more, which helps.”

1 Andrea Iannone 1'46.489 ITA DUCATI Ducati Team 
2 Jorge Lorenzo 1'46.584 ESP YAMAHA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP
3 Andrea Dovizioso 1'46.610 ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
4 Cal Crutchlow 1'46.657 GBR HONDA CWM LCR Honda
5 Aleix Espargaro 1'46.854 ESP SUZUKI Team Suzuki MotoGP
6 Michele Pirro 1'46.870 ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
7 Dani Pedrosa 1'46.875 ESP HONDA Repsol Honda Team
8 Valentino Rossi 1'46.923 ITA YAMAHA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP
9 Maverick Vinales 1'46.934 ESP SUZUKI Team Suzuki MotoGP
10 Pol Espargaro 1'47.050 ESP YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
11 Bradley Smith 1'47.090 GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
12 Yonny Hernandez 1'47.423 COL DUCATI Pramac Racing
13 Marc Marquez 1'47.240 ESP HONDA Repsol Honda Team
14 Danilo Petrucci 1'47.497 ITA DUCATI Pramac Racing
15 Hector Barbera 1'47.978 ESP AVINTIA Avintia Racing
16 Stefan Bradl 1'48.047 GER FORWARD YAMAHA Forward Racing
17 Scott Redding 1'48.120 GBR HONDA Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS
18 Loris Baz 1'48.133 FORWARD YAMAHA Forward Racing
19 Nicky Hayden 1'48.298 USA HONDA Drive M7 Aspar
20 Karel Abraham 1'48.366 CZE HONDA AB Motoracing
21 Alvaro Bautista 1'48.477 ESP APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini
22 Mike De Meglio 1'48.503 FRA AVINTIA Avintia Racing
23 Jack Miller 1'48.572 AUS HONDA CWM LCR Honda
24 Eugene Laverty 1'48.638 HONDA Drive M7 Aspar
25 Alex de Angelis 1'49.198 ART Octo IodaRacing Team
26 Marco Melandri 1'51.391 APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini

Championship standings  

1 Valentino Rossi 102 pts ITA YAMAHA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 
2 Jorge Lorenzo 87 pts ESP YAMAHA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP
3 Andrea Dovizioso 83 pts ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
4 Marc Marquez 69 pts ESP HONDA Repsol Honda Team
5 Andrea Iannone 61 pts ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
6 Cal Crutchlow 47 pts GBR HONDA CWM LCR Honda
7 Bradley Smith 46 pts GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
8 Pol Espargaro 35 pts ESP YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
9 Aleix Espargaro 31 pts ESP SUZUKI Team Suzuki MotoGP
10 Maverick Vinales 27 pts ESP SUZUKI Team Suzuki MotoGP
11 Danilo Petrucci 25 pts ITA DUCATI Pramac Racing
12 Yonny Hernandez 20 pts COL DUCATI Pramac Racing
13 Hector Barbera 13 pts ESP AVINTIA Avintia Racing
14 Scott Redding 13 pts GBR HONDA Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS
15 Dani Pedrosa 10 pts ESP HONDA Repsol Honda Team
16 Nicky Hayden 8 pts USA HONDA Drive M7 Aspar
17 Jack Miller 6 pts AUS HONDA CWM LCR Honda
18 Loris Baz 6 pts FORWARD YAMAHA Forward Racing
19 Hiroshi Aoyama 5 pts JPN HONDA Repsol Honda Team
20 Alvaro Bautista 3 pts ESP APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini
21 Eugene Laverty 2 pts HONDA Drive M7 Aspar
22 Stefan Bradl 1 pts GER FORWARD YAMAHA Forward Racing
23 Alex de Angelis 0 pts ART Octo IodaRacing Team
24 Mike De Meglio 0 pts FRA AVINTIA Avintia Racing
25 Marco Melandri 0 pts APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini
26 Karel Abraham 0 pts CZE HONDA AB Motoracing