Catalunya MotoGP: Marquez sets stunning pole in Barcelona

Using the shorter, F1-spec track following the death of Moto2 rider Luis Salom on Friday, Marquez lapped in 1m43.589s – almost half a second clear of reigning MotoGP champion Jorge Lorenzo’s Yamaha, which clearly struggled through the slow final section of turns.

Dani Pedrosa completes the front row on the second works Honda, with Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi fifth behind an impressive Hector Barbera.

Story of the session

Marquez showed his intent immediately with 1m43.905s, following a potentially quicker lap with 1m45.494s as he got badly baulked by Barbera at the new chicane.

Lorenzo’s first effort was 1m44.452s, which he then virtually matched with 1m44.457s.

Pedrosa was third on 1m44.495s at this point, ahead of Suzuki’s Maverick Vinales and Rossi.

On his second run, Marquez made a mistake on his first lap, while Lorenzo improved to 1m44.056s – the Yamaha really struggling in the slow-speed final sector in relation to the Honda.

But Marquez then put the issue beyond any doubt with a storming 1m43.589s, which was good for pole by 0.467s.

Pedrosa jumped to third on 1m44.307s ahead of the impressive Barbera – who will start from the inside of row two on his satellite Avintia Ducati.

Rossi will start fifth, lapping in 1m44.324s on his last lap, with Vinales demoted to sixth.

Cal Crutchlow leads row three on his LCR Honda, ahead of Andrea Iannone’s works Ducati and Danilo Petrucci’s Pramac Ducati.

The top 12 was completed by Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati), Scott Redding (Pramac Ducati) and Tech 3’s Pol Espargaro.

Barbera and Dovizioso progressed from Q1, in which Suzuki’s Aleix Espargaro and Tech 3 Yamaha’s Bradley Smith were among those to fail to make it through.

Qualifying results

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Time
1	Marc Marquez	Honda RC213V	1:43.589
2	Jorge Lorenzo	Yamaha YZR-M1	1:44.056
3	Dani Pedrosa	Honda RC213V	1:44.307
4	Hector Barbera	Ducati Desmosedici GP14	1:44.322
5	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha YZR-M1	1:44.324
6	Maverick Viñales	Suzuki GSX-RR	1:44.329
7	Cal Crutchlow	Honda RC213V	1:44.366
8	Andrea Iannone	Ducati Desmosedici GP16	1:44.458
9	Danilo Petrucci	Ducati Desmosedici GP15	1:44.911
10	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati Desmosedici GP16	1:45.029
11	Scott Redding	Ducati Desmosedici GP15	1:45.030
12	Pol Espargaro	Yamaha YZR-M1	1:45.218
13	Aleix Espargaro	Suzuki GSX-RR	1:44.914
14	Bradley Smith	Yamaha YZR-M1	1:45.197
15	Michele Pirro	Ducati Desmosedici GP14	1:45.538
16	Yonny Hernandez	Ducati Desmosedici GP14	1:45.690
17	Eugene Laverty	Ducati Desmosedici GP14	1:45.885
18	Stefan Bradl	Aprilia RS-GP	1:45.892
19	Jack Miller	Honda RC213V	1:45.942
20	Tito Rabat	Honda RC213V	1:46.205
21	Alvaro Bautista	Aprilia RS-GP	1:46.463