Marc Marquez kept up his 100% COTA pole record during qualifying for the Grand Prix of the Americas, surviving an investigation for blocking Maverick Vinales.
Marquez managed to set a blistering time of 2m 03.658s lap around the 3.4 mile circuit to head Vinales and Andrea Iannone’s Suzuki.
The Spaniard’s pole was initially in doubt as he coasted on the racing line through turn 12, just as Vinales came up behind on what looked to be the fastest lap of the session.
Vinales was visibly annoyed as he was forced to abandon the lap, but still managed to bag second on the grid with a last gasp lap.
Johann Zarco kept up his rapid 2018 form by putting his Tech 3 Yamaha fourth just ahead of the second factory M1 of Valentino Rossi in fifth.
Jorge Lorenzo enjoyed a positive session by out-qualifying his team-mate Andrea Dovizioso for the first time this year, bagging a sixth place start while Dovizioso could only manage eighth behind Cal Crutchlow in seventh.
Dani Pedrosa meanwhile put in a heroic performance to put his Honda inside the top ten despite suffering with the broken wrist injury he picked up in an incident with Johann Zarco in Argentina, while Danilo Petrucci managed to clear Q1 and qualify tenth.
Pol Espargaro joined Petrucci in advancing from Q1, but could only manage P12 in the end behind Alex Rins on the second of the Suzuki GSX-RR’s.
Takaaki Nakagami managed to end the session as top rookie in 13th position, the Japanese rider just missing out on a place in Q2.
