Marquez: I feel very good at this track
Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez blew the rest of the field away with a dominant performance in qualifying to take his 64th career pole position and fourth in a row at MotorLand Aragon.
The Spaniard had quite an eventful day, as is typically the case for the double MotoGP World Champion. Marquez topped this morning’s FP3, though was involved in a nasty crash with Pol Espargaro at Turn 14 that saw the pair’s bikes slide into the path of Nicky Hayden and a group marshals recovering the American’s Honda.
Luckily no-one was hurt – though Marquez did suffer a subluxation to his right shoulder – and, despite criticism from a few riders regarding the incident, Marquez was cleared of any wrongdoing by Race Direction.
Twitter: Very lucky escape for marshals and @NickyHayden!
Thankfully #PE44 & #MM93 OK too. #AragonGP https://t.co/XPHlfO5uUd (@MotoGP)
Not fazed by the crash, Marquez was on supreme form in the fourth free practice session ahead of qualifying. The Spaniard set a consistent brace of mid 1m48s laps whilst running the hard option front and rear tyres, his long-run pace far superior to anything his rivals could conjure up.
Not content with concerning the field with his race pace, Marquez decided in qualifying to completely demoralise them and place himself out of reach at the top of the pile. He came out of the blocks swinging, setting a 1m47.117s on his very first flying lap, a time that put him over seven tenths clear of the field and couldn’t even be bettered by himself on any of his other laps.
Fully in control at MotorLand, Marquez has already been marked as unbeatable by some of his fellow competitors. They will now all be hoping the weather does worsen tomorrow, as the Spaniard is concerned about his front tyre choice should the temperature drop like is forecast.
“I’m very happy with how the day went, especially with the pace we had in FP4, which was very good. Today we found a good set-up for the bike and we were able to improve on yesterday, although it was a shame about the crash this morning,” said Marquez.
“In qualifying I was very comfortable on my first lap, as it is when the tyre has its maximum potential, and I also pushed on my second lap but not as close to the limit. With today’s temperatures we were able to work very well with the front end. Hopefully the good weather continues tomorrow. If it gets colder, we would have to reassess the front tyre choice. Regardless, I’m satisfied; like every year, I feel very good at this track and I hope we can finish well on Sunday.”