Andrea Dovizioso has it all to do in Sunday's Valencia Grand Prix after qualifying all the way down in ninth place while his title rival, Marc Marquez took yet another strong pole position, finishing three tenths of a second faster than his nearest challenger, the Tech 3 of Johann Zarco.
The championship leader was on fire as he set a blistering lap that saw him as the only rider in the 1:29's around the Spanish circuit and he is certainly on track to be crowned the 2017 champion at the end of Sunday's race.
Rounding out the front row of the grid was Andrea Iannone, who continued to impress on the ever improving Suzukiโฆ
โSo far it has been a nice weekend and it is beautiful to get back in front row after a very difficult season,โ said Davide Brivio โ Suzuki Team Manager. โSince yesterday Andrea has been able to ride very fast and he continued to do so today. Finally he got in the front row, so hopefully he will be able to make a good start, keep pace with the top guys, and complete a good race.โ
Jorge Lorenzo, who had a spectacular crash on his first qually lap, will start from fourth, right behind Marquez and if the Spaniard's lightening starts from the past few races are anything to go by, we can expect to see him leading into the first corner. Dani Pedrosa will start alongside the Ducati in fifth with Ducati wild card Michele Pirro in sixth.
Valentino Rossi was seventh fastest, two places ahead of Dovizioso while the second Yamaha of Maverick Vinales was all the way down in 13th.
โThe Valencia Grand Prix is proving to be a challenge for us this year. On a positive note, Valentino seemed to have found something in the free practice sessions that improved his feeling. He was gaining momentum throughout most of the Q2 session,โ said Yamaha's Massimo Meregalli. โ
"It was a pity that a mistake in the final corner lost him time, but he still secured seventh place on the grid. Maverick wasnโt feeling as confident, though he tried many things in the practice sessions. He started the Q1 on the medium rear tyre, hoping that he would have the pace to position himself inside the top-2 without using one of the softer rear tyres, but this turned out to be impossible today.โ
โHe set a good time on his second run with the softer tyre, but unfortunately it wasnโt enough in the end to promote to Q2 and he took 13th position. We know that tomorrow is going to be a tough race for us. After challenging sessions, itโs difficult to be confident for the race, but we still believe that we can prepare something for tomorrow.โ
GP of Valencia โ Qualifying classification:
1. Marc MARQUEZ, Repsol Honda Team - 1'29.897
2. Johann ZARCO, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 - 1'30.246 +0.349
3. Andrea IANNONE, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR - 1'30.399 +0.502
4. Jorge LORENZO, Ducati Team - 1'30.460 +0.563
5. Dani PEDROSA, Repsol Honda Team - 1'30.589 +0.692
6. Michele PIRRO, Ducati Team - 1'30.764 +0.867
7. Valentino ROSSI, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP - 1'30.848 +0.951
8. Aleix ESPARGARO, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini - 1'30.857 +0.960
9. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Ducati Team - 1'30.961 +1.064
10. Alex RINS, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR - 1'30.972 +1.075
11. Pol ESPARGARO, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing - 1'31.044 +1.147
12. Jack MILLER, EG 0,0 Marc VDS - 1'31.190 +1.293
13. Maverick VIรALES Movistar Yamaha MotoGP - 1'31.030 (Q1)
14. Tito RABAT, EG 0,0 Marc VDS - 1'31.197 (Q1)
15. Danilo PETRUCCI, OCTO Pramac Racing - 1'31.216 (Q1)
16. Cal CRUTCHLOW, LCR Honda - 1'31.297 (Q1)
17. Bradley SMITH, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing - 1'31.300 (Q1)
18. Karel ABRAHAM, Pull&Bear Aspar Team - 1'31.325 (Q1)
19. Mika KALLIO, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing - 1'31.361 (Q1)
20. Hector BARBERA, Reale Avintia Racing - 1'31.487 (Q1)
21. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Pull&Bear Aspar Team - 1'31.578 (Q1)
22. Scott REDDING, OCTO Pramac Racing - 1'31.625 (Q1)
23. Loris BAZ Reale Avintia Racing - 1'31.775 (Q1)
24. Sam LOWES, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini - 1'31.816 (Q1)
25. Michael VAN DER MARK, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 - 1'32.504 (Q1)
