Submitted by Mike Lewis on
Results Below:
Marc Marquez dominated qualifying practice to secure pole position Saturday at the Sachsenring circuit in Germany.
Marquez’s 1’20.336 lap not only put him nearly three-tenths of a second clear of second place, it was his sixth consecutive pole position at the circuit. Just as worrisome to his competitors, he was fastest in all four sectors of the tight track and he led every practice round.
Teammate Dani Pedrosa seized the second spot on the grid for his best qualifying practice of the year. Jorge Lorenzo, at slightly more than half a second behind the pole sitter, completed the all-Spaniard front row.
Andrea Iannone grabbed fourth as the top Ducati rider. Right behind him was an impressive Yonny Hernandez who finished in the top-two in the first qualifying session before taking a second-row spot in the final. Valentino Rossi secured the final spot on the second row.
Result:
Pos. | No. | Rider | Bike | Time | Diff. / Prev. |
1 | 93 | Marc MARQUEZ | Honda | 1'20.336 | |
2 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | Honda | 1'20.628 | 0.292 / 0.292 |
3 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | Yamaha | 1'20.921 | 0.585 / 0.293 |
4 | 29 | Andrea IANNONE | Ducati | 1'21.029 | 0.693 / 0.108 |
5 | 68 | Yonny HERNANDEZ | Ducati | 1'21.115 | 0.779 / 0.086 |
6 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | 1'21.220 | 0.884 / 0.105 |
7 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARO | Suzuki | 1'21.239 | 0.903 / 0.019 |
8 | 44 | Pol ESPARGARO | Yamaha | 1'21.274 | 0.938 / 0.035 |
9 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | Yamaha | 1'21.329 | 0.993 / 0.055 |
10 | 35 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | Honda | 1'21.409 | 1.073 / 0.080 |
11 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Ducati | 1'21.503 | 1.167 / 0.094 |
12 | 25 | Maverick VIÑALES | Suzuki | 1'21.796 | 1.460 / 0.293 |
13 | 8 | Hector BARBERA | Ducati | 1'21.628 | 0.295 / 0.062 |
14 | 45 | Scott REDDING | Honda | 1'21.632 | 0.299 / 0.004 |
15 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati | 1'21.760 | 0.427 / 0.128 |
16 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Aprilia | 1'22.049 | 0.716 / 0.289 |
17 | 15 | Alex DE ANGELIS | ART | 1'22.195 | 0.862 / 0.146 |
18 | 43 | Jack MILLER | Honda | 1'22.225 | 0.892 / 0.030 |
19 | 69 | Nicky HAYDEN | Honda | 1'22.362 | 1.029 / 0.137 |
20 | 76 | Loris BAZ | Yamaha Forward | 1'22.394 | 1.061 / 0.032 |
21 | 63 | Mike DI MEGLIO | Ducati | 1'22.441 | 1.108 / 0.047 |
22 | 7 | Hiroshi AOYAMA | Honda | 1'22.543 | 1.210 / 0.102 |
23 | 50 | Eugene LAVERTY | Honda | 1'22.693 | 1.360 / 0.150 |
24 | 70 | Michael LAVERTY | Aprilia | 1'22.947 | 1.614 / 0.254 |
25 | 71 | Claudio CORTI | Yamaha Forward | 1'23.374 | 2.041 / 0.427 |
Comments
OK CORRAL?
Given track layout any chance for a race long shootout? Not a lot of passing zones, but hopefully everyone stays close enough for an exciting last lap. Bring it on!
David, thanks as always for your great work and bringing everything to life for us.
Race pace
The top Hondas and Yamahas have very similar race pace. As long as he doesn't get bottled up by Ducatis on the first lap Rossi has excellent podium prospects.
Expect tense times in Camp Honda after Marquez pings Dani into the cheap seats ...
Is this..
...a first time that we have two pair of brothers lined up side by side?
If we put that a side Marquez will be tough to beat tomorrow. He has his mojo back and all the confidence in the world. Maybe Honda will have their battle and Yamaha their own. If Rossi and Lorenzo manage to get in front of Honda at the start then we could have a fun race, otherwise it could be Marc all the way...
Although you really can't rule him out ever,
the hands-down favorite to win this race, Marquez, probably isn't going to factor into the championship race by winning here. So, to me, the story of this race is going to be Lorenzo's inability to escape at the front due to the competitive Hondas here. Which means there's every opportunity that we're going to be treated to a battle for important championship points between the two Yamahas somewhere behind Marquez (and possibly Pedrosa).
If I took a swing at predicting this one, I'm going to guess that Lorenzo will leap off the line with both Hondas in Hot pursuit, followed by Iannone and Rossi. With few good passing opportunities, it's going to take several laps of chopping back and forth at the front before the Hondas establish their positions in the lead, which will keep the trailing pack closer than usual, allowing Rossi time to move forward and go toe to toe with his teammate. Could be an awesome race no matter the finishing order, with big championship implications.
MM, JL, VR (I hope)...
MM, JL, VR (I hope)...
Dani - welcome back.
Dani - welcome back.
Hernandez?! Had to read that 5th 3 times. Huh! And Smith looks able to impress. Bautista and DeAngelis put a lot of bikes behind them, solid work for Aprilia.
Honda's Open bike: can we just put license plates on those and get them on the street already? I am so much more excited about them getting headlights and turn signals than I am about them in MotoGP. Glad we have a full grid, and new rules they were a part of facilitating. But I remember 10 yrs ago having keen interest in the whole grid tip to tail. Looking fwd to that returning in 2016.
Suzuki found some set up solutions, good work is going on in their garage.
How different are temps supposed to be Sunday? Who used the assymetric front for Qual and who used the standard? Honda has not fully resolved their 2015 issues, they have much improved it for Marc w the more forgiving frame. Marc still may be over riding the bike relative to the others up front, and this track can catch a rider out that bites off too much to force a pass. I am not as sure of a Marc run away at the front as other folks.
Interesting season! We are very fortunate as fans. See you all glued to the screen Sunday, hoisting a Guinness with you.
You can buy them
Honda's Open bike: can we just put license plates on those and get them on the street already? I am so much more excited about them getting headlights and turn signals than I am about them in MotoGP
for only 185.000.- without the kit 200.000.- with it.
remember it wil be slower then any 1000cc supersport.... LOL
Someone give a round of applause
...to Bautista hauling the Aprilia around to a decent grid position. Shame about Melandri. Aprilia really botched that one. He was reluctant from the get go to go to MotoGP. They should've kept him in WSBK instead of Haslam.
Michael Laverty too...
Laverty within 1.6 seconds of pole first time out - shows what that bike was capable of all year.
We are lucky
to get two races for the price of one at the moment. Going by Rossi's post race comments he also realises this: whoever wins the race is almost irrelevant, he is just focusing on beating Lorenzo and won't be too upset to see Marquez and Pedrosa run away at the front.
Yeah....
...Rossi is smart enough to know that this one is Honda's to loose. He is just thinking smart. I would be amazed if someone other then a Honda rider wins in Ring.