Marquez takes pole ahead of teammate Pedrosa at Indianapolis GP

Indianapolis, 8 August 2015: Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa have completed a faultless day placing first and second for tomorrow’s 27 lap race, the first qualifying 1-2 since the GP of Malaysia in 2014.

Both riders were immediately fast with Marc posting his best time on his first exit, with a time of 1’31.884 and was unable to better this on his second run. Dani went straight to second place on his first run then improved h

is time on his second exit closing in on Marc’s time and finishing just 0.171 seconds off his teammate with a time of 1’32.055.

Marc has started from pole in every race on American soil in the MotoGP class except Laguna Seca in 2013, making it six from seven and tomorrow he will be aiming for his fifth consecutive win at the Brickyard.

The race will begin at 14h00 local time; Ten Sports is expected to telecast the GP live from 11.30 pm in India. The Moto 3 race where Indian team Mahindara is taking part will be telecast from 10.30 pm IST

Bridgestone report on qualification: Repsol Honda Team’s Marc Marquez is ideally placed to claim a hat-trick of Indianapolis Grand Prix victories as he secured pole position in qualifying on Saturday ahead of his teammate Dani Pedrosa.

Marquez was the only rider able to set a time in the 1’31 bracket and his time of 1’31.884 was just two-tenths off his own Indianapolis Circuit Best Lap record – an impressive feat given track temperatures in qualifying this year were around 10°C higher than last year. Pedrosa’s personal best time of 1’32.055 was good enough for second place on the grid ahead of Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Jorge Lorenzo, who clocked a 1’32.186 on his final lap in Qualifying Practice 2 to secure the final front row position. All of the top three riders in qualifying used the combination of the medium compound rear and hard compound front slick during their time attack in QP2.

It was another warm day in Indianapolis but despite high ambient temperatures, the cloud cover meant that track temperatures didn’t reach the levels seen yesterday, with a peak reading of 49°C recorded this afternoon. After being given a positive reception by riders yesterday, the hard compound front slick was the most popular option in today’s sessions; during both long runs and in time attack situations in qualifying. It is expected the majority of riders will select this option for the race, although the medium compound front slick is likely to be selected by some riders. Rear slick choice today was more varied with all three options in the allocation being used. For the factory Honda and Yamaha riders the hard compound rear slick is by far the most popular option, while the medium rear slick was favoured by the Ducati riders. The soft compound rear slick could also feature in the race as it is likely to be selected by the majority of open class, Aprilia and Suzuki riders.

The weather forecast suggests a fair chance of afternoon thunderstorms tomorrow, so wet or dry conditions could greet riders for tomorrow’s race at 1400 local time (GMT–4). Before then, the morning Warm UP session at 0940 will provide a final opportunity for the riders and teams to confirm their tyre choice and bike setting for the race.

“We had warm, dry conditions throughout the day so there was plenty of opportunity for the riders to confirm which tyre combination they preferred. The hard front, hard rear combination is working really well for the factory Honda and Yamaha riders as it combines excellent braking stability with strong, consistent drive grip at the rear. The hard compound front slick is also popular with the other factory machines and open class riders and I expect that we will see the soft and medium compound rear slicks on the grid for tomorrow’s race as well. There is a chance of rain for tomorrow’s race and although the riders haven’t been able to try this new Indianapolis tarmac in wet conditions, we have two compound options of wet tyres available so no matter what the conditions are, we have enough options for the riders.”