Marc Marquez made a stunning lap to take pole at the American GP in the Circuit of the Americas, Austin. With this pole position Marquez makes it 5 out of 5 poles in MotoGP at the American soil. Maverick Viñales on the other hand, was close to Marc and ended up for a P2 start. "The Doctor" Valentino Rossi pulled out an incredible lap on the final stages to complete the front row of the grid. Jorge Lorenzo, Jack Miller and Aleix Espargaro were some of the top names who were pushed into Q1. Miller and Lorenzo made to the top two spots, and moved on to Q2. For the first time ever Jorge Lorenzo was seen in Q1 for 3 consecutive times in MotoGP, but went on into Q2 also for the very first time on a Ducati. Loris Baz potentially took the spot from Jorge Lorenzo, but failed to do so due to a last corner mishap which he saved brilliantly without having a bad high side crash.
The dramatic Q2 started off with Marquez setting the first benchmark lap as the clocks started ticking. Soon after, Maverick Viñales made a clear statement with a blistering 2'03.912 on his third lap climbing to P2. Meanwhile Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa made a quick lap and went on to P3. After 4 laps all riders went in to pits for a change of rubber. Soon after, Marc Marquez made a flying 2'02.741 becoming the first rider in the weekend to tip under the 2'02 mark, eventually taking the pole spot.
Maverick Viñales in quest for a pole was on a hot lap, when both Maverick and Rossi were about to make a contact for which Mav seemed to get furious. On the final lap after the chequered flag went out, Rossi did his usual gimmicks for a front row start at P3. Dani Pedrosa was pushed to P4, and Tech3 Yamaha rookie Johann Zarco came home for a P5 start. To everyone's surprise Jorge Lorenzo for the first time on a Ducati, starts from the second row at P6. Teammate Andrea Dovizioso settled for a P7 start, soon after both his bikes had mechanical failure at the end of FP4. Jonas Folger sits in the middle of the third row at P8 and LCR Honda rider Cal Crutchlow starts at P9.
Completing the top 10 of the grid is Octo Pramac rider Scott Redding. Factory Suzuki rider Andrea Iannone starts the race for P11 in the grid. Q1 hero Loris Baz starts from P14, while teammate Hector Barbera is just behind at P15. Aprilia rider Aleix Espargaro starts from the last position at P22 due to two crashes in FP4 and Q2, the latter happening even before setting a lap time. Brother Pol Espargaro is also on a similar situation at P21 due to crashes.
The American MotoGP starts at 12.30 "AM" on Monday (read tonight) at the COTA in Texas, Austin. We await for an epic battle between the two top riders Maverick and Marquez, but we could definitely not write off the Sunday man Rossi. Stay tuned to BikesMedia for the official race report and further updates on the 2017 MotoGP World Championship.
By: Aravind Rb