Austin MotoGP: Top 5 quotes after qualifying
Today at the Circuit of the Americas, Marc Marquez extended his record of most Pole Positions in Grand Prix history across all classes, taking the 67th pole in career (his 39th in the MotoGP class)
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
| Pos. | Driver | Bike | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Marc Marquez |
Honda | 2'02.741 | |
| “This pole makes me feel really good because I honestly didn’t expect it, or actually I thought it would be difficult. In fact, even considering that this circuit suits my riding style, I’ve been struggling a bit this weekend. We knew that our opponents were very strong on new tyres and we worked a lot on race distance, and I felt better on race pace than on qualifying pace. But anyway, this is a track I love, so I told myself, ‘Let’s try!’ and on my last lap I pushed to my maximum, doing my best, and we got another pole here in Austin which is very good. I’m happy with the team; we changed many things on the bike over the weekend and step-by-step we regained some confidence, so this afternoon we just focused on keeping a good pace and it worked well. We did a good job in FP4. I feel quite good on used tyres so we’ll see what we can do tomorrow.” | ||||
| 2 | Maverick Viñales |
Yamaha | 2'02.871 | 0.130 |
| “Honestly, I thought I had the pole. When I looked at the screen and saw that Marc was behind Valentino I said “ah, maybe he will do it” and in the end he did, so congratulations to him, because it was a nice lap for sure. We pushed at 100% and the bike was working really good. We had to push for one lap, but I‘m also happy about the race pace. We still have tomorrow to improve. We will be working hard this night to find a new set-up to try and stop the bike better, but I think we did a great job and we can be there for sure. Pushing 100% from lap one until the last lap I think will be the best strategy. There were many riders on track. I‘m not angry at what happened today. When you‘re riding a good lap it‘s normal, riders are like this. There are no bad feelings between me and Valentino. This is a normal thing that can happen, I‘m not complaining. It can happen to me as well, maybe one day I‘m in the middle.” | ||||
| 3 |  Valentino Rossi |
Yamaha | 2'03.673 | 0.932 |
| “It was difficult because it looked like Maverick and Marquez had a better pace, but starting from the front row is very important. We improved the bike a lot and I knew that, if I had a clear lap, I would be able to do a good lap time. I did it, so in the end it was OK. Starting from the front row is important, as always, this is good also because it‘s the first real qualifying. Starting like this is not so bad also for the rest of the season. Now we wait and see what happens tomorrow.” | ||||
| 4 | Dani Pedrosa |
Honda | 2'03.866 | 1.125 |
| “Fourth isn’t so bad. I could’ve been third but it’s okay, let’s hope tomorrow Valentino will return the favour! The day was demanding because of the weather conditions—quite a bit cooler than yesterday—and of the track in general. There were many crashes, so this morning we stayed very calm. In the afternoon we definitely improved our pace and only in the end we suffered a small crash (in turn 1), luckily with no consequences. In qualifying we gave our maximum but we suffered some chatter on the front and I couldn’t improve much. We’ll try to sort out some more little things before tomorrow and give our best in the race.” | ||||
| 5 |  Johann Zarco |
Yamaha | 2'03.928 | 1.187 |
| “Today went positively for myself and the team and we are very pleased with the qualifying result for tomorrow’s race. In Q2, we used the soft compound of tyre, like almost everyone else, and my feeling was strong on the Yamaha. I set a solid lap time, and I held third at the end of the session, but then Rossi and Pedrosa, who have a lot of experience, were able to improve their times and I ended up in 5th. The result is still fantastic and I will use this opportunity to push for a great finish. I aim to undertake a solid start and then stay with the top guys for as long as possible and learn from them because this is the best way to gain knowledge. Throughout this weekend my ambition has been to work in preparation for the race, but at the same time, I have been able to post a fast lap time whenever it was necessary. So, I am still learning and I will need some more time to get closer to the front, but at the moment everything is going well which is why I can smile.” | ||||
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