En pole en Argentine pour la troisième année consécutive, Márquez retrouvera en première ligne Valentino Rossi et Jorge Lorenzo.
Après avoir dominé les essais libres et chuté samedi matin, Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda Team) s’est offert sa première pole position de la saison 2016 en survolant les qualifications et en tournant en 1’39.411. Le double Champion du Monde MotoGP™ a fini sa séance sur une nouvelle chute dans le virage n°1, là où il était tombé le matin, mais s’en est heureusement sorti indemne et sera donc en pole position pour la troisième année d’affilée à Termas de Río Hondo depuis l’introduction du circuit au calendrier MotoGP™ en 2014.
En difficulté vendredi, Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) et son coéquipier Jorge Lorenzo, tombé en FP4 juste avant les qualifications, ont nettement progressé et complèteront la première ligne après s’être respectivement classés à 0.375s et 0.533s de Márquez.
Alors qu’il avait été presque aussi rapide que son coéquipier vendredi, Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) a fini à six dixièmes de la pole et mènera la deuxième ligne devant Andrea Dovizioso et Andrea Iannone du Ducati Team.
Maverick Viñales (Team Suzuki Ecstar) partagera quant à lui la troisième ligne avec son compatriote Héctor Barberá (Avintia Racing) et Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda). Ce dernier a, comme Márquez, chuté dans le virage 1, tout comme Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3), qui partira en douzième position derrière les frères Pol (Monster Yamaha Tech3) et Aleix Espargaró (Team Suzuki Ecstar).
Loris Baz (Avintia Racing) n’était pas passé loin de rejoindre la Q2 mais pourra être satisfait de s’être classé treizième, sa meilleure qualification en date.
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La course a lieu dimanche à 16h, heure locale, soit 21h en France métropolitaine.
A late crash couldn’t stop Marc Marquez from taking pole position with Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo behind him on the front row.
Monster Yamaha Tech 3 duo Pol Espargaro and Bradley Smith joined the top ten MotoGP™ World Championship riders for Q2. Track temperature was just above 40°C, slightly warmer than in FP3. All riders headed out with the hard front tyre and the medium option Michelin tyres for the start of the 15-minute session.
It didn’t take long for the fast times to come, Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) ‘easing’ into the session with a 1’39.411, the fastest lap of the weekend. This time immediately put him a second clear of the rest of the field and saw the riders playing catch up.
Unlike in Qatar, Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) returned to the pits after just a single flying lap, opting for a slightly different strategy to the rest of the field. His teammate, Valentino Rossi, chose to stay out for several laps and was the second rider to drop into the 1’39s by the half way mark of the session.
Two or three stop strategies didn’t matter as the session came to a close, Marquez untouchable in the session. A crash at Turn 1 with three minutes remaining saw the Spaniard unable to improve his time, but no rider was able to get with 0.3s of his 1’39.411. This is Marquez’s first pole position since Phillip Island in 2015 and his 13th consecutive front row start in the premier class. On each of his visits to the Termas de Rio Hondo, Marquez has started on pole.
A 1’39.786 saw ‘The Doctor’ as the only rider able to get within half a second of Marquez’s time. This is just Rossi’s 13th front row start since returning to Yamaha in 2013. Rossi’s last front row start came at the Malaysian GP in 2015, where he went on to finish third. The Italian proved in Qatar that if he can stay with the front riders he can battle for the podium, second on the grid gives him a perfect perch to launch from and stop Lorenzo and Marquez escaping.
Completing the front row is defending MotoGP™ World Champion Jorge Lorenzo, third his worst grid position since he was fourth at the Malaysia GP in 2015. His 1’39.786 was 0.533s back on Marquez’s time, both riders having fallen at Turn 1 over the course of the Gran Premio Motul de la República Argentina weekend. Due to his crash in FP4 the Majorcan had only one bike for the session, a second fall would have been devastating. The top three were the only riders able to drop into the 1’39s.
Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) will lead the charge from the second row, 0.6s behind his teammate. Fourth is a dramatic improvement over his seventh place start in Qatar. Pedrosa will be aiming to return to the podium after missing out in Qatar, the leading riders able to break away without him.
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) starts as the leading Ducati in fifth; his early pace not lasting until Qualifying as both the factory Ducati riders struggled slightly some speed. His teammate, Andrea Iannone, will start just behind him in sixth, 0.074s dividing the two riders. Both have had historically strong races in Argentina and Iannone needs to finish in the points after crashing out of the Qatar GP.
After a promising start to the weekend, Maverick Viñales (Team Suzuki Ecstar) was only able to manage seventh on the grid. This may appear as a modest result, but is a three-place improvement over his 2015 Argentina GP start.
Hector Barbera (Avintia Racing) secured the honours of top Independent Team rider once again as he grabbed eighth on the grid. Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) fell at Turn 1 as he began his second flying lap, the Brit on his feet and running back to the pits for his second machine immediately. He will begin the race in ninth.
Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) will launch from 10th and ahead of brother Aleix Espargaro (Team Suzuki Ecstar). Brit Bradley Smith’s (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) Q2 session came to a premature end as he fell at Turn 1, starting 12th as a result. All of the top 12 were within a second of a half of each other.
Colombian rider Yonny Hernandez (Aspar Team MotoGP) will start from 21st on the grid for his home round.
Full results from Q2 are available to view here.
Racing begins at 16:00 Local Time for the premier class in Argentina, the race lasting 22 laps.
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