Jorge Lorenzo secured pole position in a thrilling first qualifying session of the year. He set a time of 1:54.543 early in the session, and although he wasn’t beaten, it wasn’t without a hard fight.
Marc Marquez will start the race from second on the grid just .091 of a second behind his compatriot. On a practice start after the chequered flag, however, the aggressive Honda power delivery almost got the better of the Spaniard when he nearly wiped out as he applied the power.
In the thrilling dying moments, Maverick Vinales stole third position in what is a massive result for the Suzuki Team, with Andrea Iannone in fourth and Valentino Rossi fifth. The three had been chasing each other down on the final lap in a gripping close to the session.
Andrea Dovizioso rounds out the second row of the grid, with Dani Pedrosa, Hector Barbera and Pol Espargaro in 7th, 8th and 9th.
It’s an all-British fourth row. Cal Crutchlow and Bradley Smith easily earned a pass through from Q1, and will start from 10th and 11th respectively. Scott Redding, who suffered a small crash in FP4 will start from 12th.
The revelation of Q1 was Ireland’s Eugene Laverty who suddenly found some speed in his Aspar Ducati and led for part of the session. He will start the race in 14th behind Yonny Hernandez.
Aleix Espargaro crashed with seven minutes of the session remaining. Although his sprint back to the pits allowed him to return to the track on his second bike a few minutes later, he was only able to qualify 15th.
Alvaro Bautista crashed in turn 14 and will start 17th on the grid behind Loris Baz. Jack Miller took to the track late in Q1 after repairs to his bike following crash in FP4. He will start from 18th. Tito Rabat and Stefan Bradl – another FP4 crasher – round out the grid in 19th and 20th.
Tensions between Lorenzo and Rossi have already started to boil over onto the track in a spat during FP4. The pair had an animated exchange during a practice start after it appeared Lorenzo was slow in a corner, disrupting Rossi’s lap.
The battle will commence tomorrow at 18:00 GMT.
