Marquez takes new pole record as Honda lock out front row

David Bodapati July 12, 2014

358 2 minutes read

Marquez takes pole on Saturday at the Motorrad German GP. A Repsol Honda.image

Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez has recorded his seventh pole of the season for tomorrow’sGerman GP, with teammate Dani Pedrosa in second and local boy Stefan Bradl completing the front row aboard his satellite LCR Honda.After a tricky FP4 session where rain was a constant threat, the sun was shining for Q2. Marc’s first exit was spoiled by a tyre issue but on his second run there was no stopping him. He set a time of 1’21.126 on lap seven, taking provisional pole, and then on lap nine he set a blisteringly fast time of 1’20.937, snatching Casey Stoner’s pole record from 2008 (1’21.067). Marc has qualified on the front row at the last twenty-one races, and this is his sixteenth MotoGP career pole (in just 27 races) signifying a 59.2% pole ratio in the premier class.

Teammate Dani was also in superb form, setting a time of 1’21.233 on his first run. However, he found himself in the gravel after a small mistake in turn one on his second run and was unable to return to the pits and get back out on track in time. His time remained second fastest and he will start from the front row for the sixth time this season.

1st – 1’20.937

“The weekend has been affected by the crash I suffered yesterday, but I kept my nerve and little by little we’ve been getting better. I felt good yesterday afternoon and I was much better this morning. In the few laps I did in FP4, I could see that we had a good pace and a chance to fight for pole position. With the first tyre I didn’t feel entirely comfortable, but with the second one I had a good feeling and could see that there was good grip – so I decided to push a little more and put in a strong lap. Starting from the front is important for the racetomorrow, because this is a circuit where it is difficult to overtake. We will try and keep up the pace from practice, which I think has been good”

2nd – 1’21.233

“It was a good qualifying session and we had a good pace, despite the crash which was my fault when I think I hit a bump under braking but luckily I’m fine. I’m very grateful to my mechanics for the work they did yesterday to get the bike back running again after my crash in FP2. Tomorrow we will try to do our best, position ourselves well from the start, make a good tyre choice and hope the weather is kind to us! Our setup is definitely good, so I hope to have a good race”

QUALIFYING RESULTS

Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland – Round 9

Pos.	Rider	Num.	Nation	Team	Constructor	Time/Gap
1	Marc Marquez	93	ESP	Repsol Honda Team	HONDA	1’20.937
2	Dani Pedrosa	26	ESP	Repsol Honda Team	HONDA	1’21.233
3	Stefan Bradl	6	GER	LCR Honda MotoGP	HONDA	1’21.340
4	Aleix Espargaro	41	ESP	NGM Mobile Forward Racing	YAMAHA	1’21.376
5	Jorge Lorenzo	99	ESP	Yamaha Factory Racing	YAMAHA	1’21.508
6	Valentino Rossi	46	ITA	Yamaha Factory	YAMAHA	1’21.651
7	Andrea Iannone	29	ITA	Pramac Racing	DUCATI	1’21.679
8	Pol Espargaro	44	ESP	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	YAMAHA	1’21.771
9	Bradley Smith	38	GBR	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	YAMAHA	1’21.794
10	Alvaro Bautista	19	ESP	Go & Fun Honda Gresini	HONDA	1’21.906
11	Andrea Dovizioso	4	ITA	Ducati Team	DUCATI	1’22.120
12	Nicky Hayden	69	USA	Drive M7 Aspar	HONDA	1’22.647
13	Yonny Hernandez	68	COL	Pramac Racing	DUCATI	1’22.411
14	Scott Redding	45	GBR	Go & Fun Honda Gresini	HONDA	1’22.436
15	Cal Crutchlow	35	GBR	Ducati Team	DUCATI	1’22.529
16	Hiroshi Aoyama	7	JPN	Drive M7 Aspar	HONDA	1’22.659
17	Karel Abraham	17	CZE	Cardion AB Motoracing	HONDA	1’22.778
18	Michael Laverty	70	GBR	Paul Bird Motorsport	ART & PBM	1’22.845
19	Colin Edwards	5	USA	NGM Mobile Forward Racing	YAMAHA	1’22.888
20	Hector Barbera	8	ESP	Avintia Racing MotoGP	FTR-KAWASAKI	1’23.029
21	Mike Di Meglio	63	FRA	Avintia Racing MotoGP	FTR-KAWASAKI	1’23.423
22	Broc Parkes	23	AUS	Paul Bird Motorsport	PBM	1’23.428
23	Danilo Petrucci	9	ITA	IodaRacing Project	IODA-SUTER	1’23.484