After storming ahead during Free Practice 4 in Argentina, Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez kept up this impressive form in qualifying. This is his fifth pole in six attempts at the Autódromo Termas de Río Hondo.
Qualifying 1
The first of those to miss out on Q2 was Aleix Espargaro who took thirteenth place. He finished just one spot ahead of a struggling Alex Rins and his Suzuki.
Miguel Oliveira and Karel Abrhm both impressed as they took fourteenth and fifteenth, missing out on Q2 by a few hundredths of a second each.
A difficult day was faced by Johann Zarco and Joan Mir who took eighteenth and nineteenth respectively. They were just ahead of Tito Rabat, Hafizh Syahrin and Andrea Iannone who round out the grid for tomorrows race.
Qualifying 2
With a pole time of 1:38.304, Marquez saw off a late challenge from Maverick Vinales who was just 0.154s off the pace.
Qatar winner, Andrea Divizioso will start from third place tomorrow after pulling out a brilliant lap in the dying stages of qualifying. Valentino Rossi and Jack Miller, last years pole-sitter, took fourth and fifth respectively.
It was hard to split the top five who were covered by just 0.244s. The next five riders were just as close, again covered by just over two-tenths of a second.
Image Credit: MotoGP.com
A time of 1:38.886 gave an impressive sixth place to Franco Moribelli. His Petronas Yamaha team-mate, Fabio Quartararo, was less than 0.01s behind to land an equally impressive seventh place for the rookie.
Last years Argentinian race winner, Cal Crutchlow took eighth – he failed to improve on his time as the session clocked reached its end. Takaaki Nakagami and a struggling Danilo Petrucci round out the top ten in eighth and ninth respectively.
Jorge Lorenzo’s difficult weekend continued as he had his lap time deleted for exceeding track limits. This pushed him back to twelfth.
