from Twowheelsblog
That Marc Marquez was incredibly fast on the Circuit of the Americas was already well known fact, but he further stunned the paddock and fans, when he completely blitzed the field with two incredbile hot laps - and on the same tire - and even lowered his March test time, stopping the clock in 2.031.021, and taking his first ever MotoGP pole position after just one round and becoming the youngest rider to have obtained a pole position in the premier class (Marquez is 20 years and 63 days old) and beating Freddie Spencer’s record.
Dani Pedrosa tried his best to beat his team mate but stopped short by 0.254s, but at least he was close, while Jorge Lorenzo who will start on the front row with the two Repsol Honda riders was more than one second adrift, and it’s an all Spanish row.
Opening the second row will be Cal Crutchlow who had another very good session and he was just 0.254s from the Yamaha factory rider and followed by Stefan Bradl in fifth, while Andrea Dovizioso had another good qualifying session as he was sixth.
Alvaro Bautista was seventh, while Valentino Rossi had another horrific qualifying session as he ended up 8th and 2.359 seconds from Marquez and it will be another uphill battle for the Italian who saw Aleix Espargaro who not only made it into QP2 with his CRT ART machine just 0.009s from him and the Aspar rider also out qualified three prototype riders, Ducati’s Nicky Hayden (10th), Yamaha Tech3s Bradley Smith (11th) and Ben Spies (12th) who was more than four seconds off pace.
2013 MotoGP Austin Qualifying results and starting grid:
Circuit of the Americas Austin, Classifica Qualifiche (Q2)
01- Marc Marquez – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – 2’03.021
02- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 0.254
03- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1.079
04- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1.246
05- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 1.424
06- Andrea Dovizioso – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 1.852
07- Alvaro Bautista – GO&FUN Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 1.921
08- Valentino Rossi – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 2.359
09- Aleix Espargaro – Power Eletronics Aspar – ART GP13 – + 2.368
10- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 2.547
02- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 0.254
03- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1.079
04- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1.246
05- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 1.424
06- Andrea Dovizioso – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 1.852
07- Alvaro Bautista – GO&FUN Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 1.921
08- Valentino Rossi – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 2.359
09- Aleix Espargaro – Power Eletronics Aspar – ART GP13 – + 2.368
10- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 2.547
