Marc Marquez grabbed pole position in a delayed qualifying session after an incident-packed afternoon in Argentina.
Laying down an early marker, the Spaniard set a blistering time of 1:39.411, the fastest of the weekend. No one else could get within a second of him on their first runs. On his final run to better his time, however, he crashed knocking the wind out of him. He was unable to rejoin the session, but had already done enough to secure pole.
Valentino Rossi qualifies in second place, eventually slashing the gap to just 0.375 of a second. Jorge Lorenzo placed third with a time of 1:39.944. They were the only three riders to set times under 1:40.
Drama started early in the afternoon when Scott Redding’s rear tyre appeared to fail in FP4. The session was red flagged to remove debris from the track; Redding able to bring his bike safely to a halt and off the track.
The stoppage lasted just a few minutes and riders were sent back onto the track. The session was red flagged a second time due to safety concerns, however, when Redding’s bike returned to the pits for investigation.
With the session restarted with just four minutes to go, most riders treated it as a dress rehearsal for qualifying. Lorenzo pushed the limits too far and crashed destroying his bike meaning he was forced to qualify on his second machine.
Q1 wasn’t without incident either. Loris Baz appeared to signal to Yonny Hernandez that there was a problem with his bike. Hernandez returned to the pits only to be sent back out when the team found no obvious problem. However, he was later forced to pull off the track with a mechanical failure.
Jack Miller had looked good to earn himself a spot in Q2 until he crashed into turn one with eight minutes of the session remaining. With the Aussie appearing out of contention, it looked like a sure thing for Tech 3 Yamaha teammates Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro to take the top honours.
But then Miller returned to the track with three minutes remaining, setting fastest sector times and personal bests along the way. He then crashed again before crossing the line to take the chequered flag, destroying his chances to get into Q2.
Loris Baz latched onto Pol Espargaro to set a threatening time, but ended the session in third. Then all eyes were on Scott Redding as he recovered from his FP4 incident to set some fast sector times. He eventually finished the session in fourth, earning the Tech 3 boys a safe passage into Q2.
Beyond the top three of Marquez, Rossi and Lorenzo, Dani Pedrosa qualifies fourth, with Andrea Dovizioso in fifth. Andrea Iannone is sixth and Maverick Vinales in seventh. Hector Barbera latched onto Pedrosa’s back wheel to hoist himself up into eighth. Cal Crutchlow – another turn one crasher – ended the session in ninth, with brothers Pol and Aleix Espargaro in 10th and 11th respectively. Bradley Smith added to the MotoGP graveyard, also crashing into turn one and was unable to qualify higher than 12th.
Combined with the results of Q1, Baz qualifies 13th, followed by Redding, Miller, Stefan Bradl, Eugene Laverty, Michele Pirro, Tito Rabat, Alvaro Bautista, and Hernandez bringing up the rear.
