Spanish MotoGP rider Marquez (centre) of the Repsol Honda team, Spain’s Lorenzo (left) of the Yamaha Factory Racing team, and Italy’s Rossi of the Yamaha Factory Racing team celebrate after the qualifying session of the Grand Prix of San Marino yesterday. The motorcycling Grand Prix of San Marino will take place today.
Misano, San Marino: Marc Marquez continued his dominance on the MotoGP circuit when he secured pole position ahead of the San Marino Grand Prix today.
In recent months Marquez has been quite ruthless during qualifying, underpinning his status as the fastest person over one lap.
What will be disconcerting for his rivals today is that Marquez has also learned to produce multiple fastest times during qualifying and during races.
That was also confirmed during yesterday’s session, where he became the first rider to break the 1:33 minute barrier on the Misano circuit.
The exuberance of youth can be an asset on a motorbike track, which was evident during qualifying, when Marquez - a rookie at this level - competed despite a severe fall earlier in the day. The fact the he had to use his spare bike did not distract him either.
As has often been the case this season, Marquez took the bull by the horns from the outset, as he set the fastest time after just his first run on the track.
He then consolidated his position at the top for a protracted period, despite a series of attacks from Jorge Lorenzo, and later on from MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi.
Marquez has also become famous or infamous for entrenching his position towards the business end of qualifying sessions and he did that again yesterday. On his penultimate lap, he extended his lead over Lorenzo...quite significantly at that.
The Spaniard eventually recorded a time that was 0.513 seconds faster than a hapless Lorenzo, who simply hasn’t had many answers this season.
“We improved a little but not enough to be closer to Marc,” said Lorenzo, who was more than half a second off Marquez’s fastest time.
“He made an amazing lap. We are struggling to stop the bike in braking and we have more spinning than normal in acceleration.”
Rossi, who is now showing glimpses of the form that once took him to the summit of motorbike racing, secured the third position on the grid, 0.658 seconds behind the leader.
Significantly, the Italian is in the front row and will feel he is still in contention ahead of today’s race.
Dani Pedrosa, who makes up the big four on the MotoGP circuit finished qualifying 0.811 seconds off the pace.
He will be joined in the second row by Cal Crutchlow, who experienced some technical difficulties during the day, and Aleix Espargaro, who continued to be threat in MotoGP.
Nicky Hayden will have to start his race from far back once again, while the battle for the middle positions will also be fascinating, as Stefan Bradl, Alvaro Bautista and Andrea Dovizioso will all start in the third row.
However, as the racing fraternity prepares for the race, the jury will be out on whether anybody will be able to challenge Marquez for the title. AGENCIES
