Submitted by Jared Earle on
The first qualifying session was all about whether or not Valentino Rossi would get through to the final session and if he'd have a tyre left to do anything if he got there.
Rossi struggled early on, with soft front and hard rear tyres, waving the bikes behind him past at one point, and at the midway point he was the only rider on the track. Alvaro Bautista and Hector Barbera were the riders in the top two positions, and, as soon as Rossi set the fastest lap, Barbera got back on his bike to try to regain his promotion to the last session.
Valentino Rossi swapped tyres and headed out with a medium rear tyre and three and a half minutes left to use it.
As the chequered flag came out and everyone was on their last lap, the timing screens lit up with red helmets as several riders had the potential to claim the top spot, but Rossi moved the goalposts and qualified for the final session, along with Barbera who beat out Yonny Hernandez and Bautista.
With ten minutes left in the second session, Marc Marquez eclipsed the former fastest lap and then beat his own time again with a 1'47.572, seven tenths quicker than Andrea Iannone's impressive provisional second place.
Dani Pedrosa had a lap that looked like it could take second or third place, but at the last sector, he sneaked under Marquez's time and took the top place.
When the flag came out, Marquez and Iannone were on fast laps, and Iannone took third while Marquez pushed his way back to the top of the pile.
Both Cal Crutchlow and Valentino Rossi out-performed their expected times and sat behind Pol Espagaro in fifth and sixth. Andrea Dovizioso crashed out on a fast lap, consigning him to the third row.
Results:
Qualifying 2 Results:
| Pos. | Num. | Rider | Bike | Time | Gap 1st | Prev. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 93 | Marc MARQUEZ | Honda | 1'47.187 | ||
| 2 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | Honda | 1'47.549 | 0.362 | 0.362 |
| 3 | 29 | Andrea IANNONE | Ducati | 1'47.685 | 0.498 | 0.136 |
| 4 | 44 | Pol ESPARGARO | Yamaha | 1'47.865 | 0.678 | 0.180 |
| 5 | 35 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | Ducati | 1'47.897 | 0.710 | 0.032 |
| 6 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | 1'48.226 | 1.039 | 0.329 |
| 7 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | Yamaha | 1'48.246 | 1.059 | 0.020 |
| 8 | 6 | Stefan BRADL | Honda | 1'48.368 | 1.181 | 0.122 |
| 9 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Ducati | 1'48.542 | 1.355 | 0.174 |
| 10 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARO | Forward Yamaha | 1'48.568 | 1.381 | 0.026 |
| 11 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | Yamaha | 1'48.810 | 1.623 | 0.242 |
| 8 | Hector BARBERA | Ducati |
Qualifying 1 Results:
| Pos. | Num. | Rider | Bike | Time | Gap 1st | Prev. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | 1'48.692 | ||
| 2 | 8 | Hector BARBERA | Ducati | 1'48.991 | 0.299 | 0.299 |
| 3 | 68 | Yonny HERNANDEZ | Ducati | 1'49.051 | 0.359 | 0.060 |
| 4 | 7 | Hiroshi AOYAMA | Honda | 1'49.209 | 0.517 | 0.158 |
| 5 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Honda | 1'49.274 | 0.582 | 0.065 |
| 6 | 45 | Scott REDDING | Honda | 1'49.703 | 1.011 | 0.429 |
| 7 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | Honda | 1'49.790 | 1.098 | 0.087 |
| 8 | 69 | Nicky HAYDEN | Honda | 1'49.835 | 1.143 | 0.045 |
| 9 | 15 | Alex DE ANGELIS | Forward Yamaha | 1'50.263 | 1.571 | 0.428 |
| 10 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | ART | 1'50.635 | 1.943 | 0.372 |
| 11 | 70 | Michael LAVERTY | PBM | 1'51.280 | 2.588 | 0.645 |
| 12 | 23 | Broc PARKES | PBM | 1'51.489 | 2.797 | 0.209 |
| 13 | 63 | Mike DI MEGLIO | Avintia | 1'52.181 | 3.489 | 0.692 |
Comments
Whoa
So...anyone else surprised by Jorge here? Rossi is having a bad weekend fair enough - but to me this is astonishing.
Is Yamaha running shagged engines this week or what?
And whoa #2 conversely
And whoa #2 conversely Crutchlow!
Sad to see the big momentum from Misano go PLOP on the tarmac here for Yamaha.
:(
Pol
Good session by P. Espargaro, he's just quietly improving in the background. So much so that the commentators seem to forget him and praise Rossi for qualifying as best Yamaha...
Bad tyres?
Interesting the claims about bad tyres. Just read an article in GP Racing (French mag) which claimed it was a bad rear tyre that kept Marquez off the podium at Brno. However, no details, no attributed quote...
Hat's off to Rossi for........
Hat's off to Rossi for changing his riding style and inspiring Cal Crutchlow on the Ducati to qualify better than the factory Yamahas. Way to go, OLD timer.
Again, it's going to be a Great race, again, what with two cheater Ducatis starting in front of the factory Yamahas. That should clog up the field so the two Hondas can ride off into the sunset. Love two, three tier spec bikes on the same grid on race day. A tongue in cheek remark.