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Qualifying report

Mugello MotoGP: Marquez pips Quartararo to pole, Rossi 18th

Marc Marquez secured his fourth pole position of the 2019 MotoGP season after edging out Fabio Quartararo by 0.214 seconds at the end of a frenetic qualifying session for the Italian Grand Prix.

Pole sitter Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team, second place Fabio Quartararo, Petronas Yamaha SRT, third place Danilo Petrucci, Ducati Team

Pole sitter Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team, second place Fabio Quartararo, Petronas Yamaha SRT, third place Danilo Petrucci, Ducati Team

Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Reigning champion Marquez established a new lap record at Mugello with his best time of 1m45.519s on his Honda, eclipsing the 1m45.733s set by Quartararo on the Petronas SRT Yamaha.

Danilo Petrucci, who earlier in the day beat the existing record at the Tuscan circuit, was third-fastest, as the top five riders all bested the Ducati rider's previous benchmark.

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It was Quartararo - who took his first MotoGP pole two races ago - that led after the opening runs in Q2 as he knocked Marquez off the top spot with a 1m45.992s, before improving to a 1m45.845s.

The latter time was enough for provisional pole right until the chequered flag, when Marquez improved with the help of a tow from title rival Andrea Dovizioso.

Behind third-placed Petrucci, Franco Morbidelli made it two Petronas bikes in the top four, while Jack Miller (Pramac Ducati) and Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) completed the second row.

Maverick Vinales, second after the first runs, couldn't improve in the closing stages and will start seventh on the best of the works Yamahas, followed by Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac) and Dovizioso, who had earlier set the pace in Q1.

Takaaki Nakagami (LCR), top KTM rider Pol Espargaro and Ducati wildcard Michele Pirro, who likewise made it out of Q1, completed the Q2 order.

Q1: Rossi joins Lorenzo, Rins on sidelines

The top two spots in Q1 were occupied by Ducati riders, as Dovizioso and Pirro set times just 0.005s apart to book their places in the second segment of qualifying.

It was Pirro that led after the opening runs with a best lap of 1m46.283s, comfortably clear of Suzuki man Alex Rins on a 1m46.539s.

Ducati elected to keep Pirro in the garage for the second runs, and the wildcard was duly demoted to second when Dovizioso posted a 1m46.278s to grab the top spot.

Rins couldn't improve, however, and will therefore start Sunday's race from 13th on the grid ahead of Tito Rabat's Avintia Ducati and Aleix Espargaro's Aprilia.

Valentino Rossi faces the prospect of starting his home grand prix in 18th, a year on from taking pole at Mugello, behind Karel Abraham (Avintia) and Jorge Lorenzo (Honda).

Rossi was only seventh on the opening runs, and didn't get a proper flying lap on the board after changing tyres, which left him 0.906s shy of Dovizioso's time and with his worst qualifying result since last year's Aragon race.

Johann Zarco suffered a high-speed crash at Correntaio on his final lap and will start 19th, one place ahead of Joan Mir's Suzuki, while Andrea Iannone (Aprilia) rounds out the 23-strong field.

Q2 results:

Cla # Rider Bike Time Gap
1 93 Spain Marc Marquez
Honda 1'45.519
2 20 France Fabio Quartararo
Yamaha 1'45.733 0.214
3 9 Italy Danilo Petrucci
Ducati 1'45.881 0.362
4 21 Italy Franco Morbidelli
Yamaha 1'45.959 0.440
5 43 Australia Jack Miller
Ducati 1'46.029 0.510
6 35 United Kingdom Cal Crutchlow
Honda 1'46.079 0.560
7 12 Spain Maverick Viñales
Yamaha 1'46.181 0.662
8 63 Italy Francesco Bagnaia
Ducati 1'46.260 0.741
9 4 Italy Andrea Dovizioso
Ducati 1'46.293 0.774
10 30 Japan Takaaki Nakagami
Honda 1'46.387 0.868
11 44 Spain Pol Espargaro
KTM 1'46.433 0.914
12 51 Italy Michele Pirro
Ducati 1'46.638 1.119

Q1 results:

Cla # Rider Bike Time Gap
1 4 Italy Andrea Dovizioso
Ducati 1'46.278
2 51 Italy Michele Pirro
Ducati 1'46.283 0.005
3 42 Spain Alex Rins
Suzuki 1'46.539 0.261
4 53 Spain Tito Rabat
Ducati 1'46.678 0.400
5 41 Spain Aleix Espargaro
Aprilia 1'46.899 0.621
6 17 Czech Republic Karel Abraham
Ducati 1'47.028 0.750
7 99 Spain Jorge Lorenzo
Honda 1'47.135 0.857
8 46 Italy Valentino Rossi
Yamaha 1'47.184 0.906
9 5 France Johann Zarco
KTM 1'47.394 1.116
10 36 Spain Joan Mir
Suzuki 1'47.519 1.241
11 55 Malaysia Hafizh Syahrin
KTM 1'48.222 1.944
12 88 Portugal Miguel Oliveira
KTM 1'48.235 1.957
13 29 Italy Andrea Iannone
Aprilia 1'48.303 2.025

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