Repsol Honda's Marc Marquez took the field by storm after retaining his 100% pole record at the Termas de Rio Hondo circuit, Argentina. To everyone's surprise there's Karel Abraham on his satellite Ducati GP15 on the middle of the first row. Cal Crutchlow showed off his riding skills under dramatic conditions, which helped him secure a P3 start for tomorrow's race. Due to problems all through the FP sessions for many riders, there were some big names in Q1 - Rossi, Pedrosa, Dovizioso and Lorenzo. Midway through the Q1 Andrea Dovizioso hit the nail with a 1'49.488 going on top of the time sheets. Meanwhile Valentino Rossi went to the pits for some fresh rubber, with just 4 odd minutes remaining in the session. In the last timed lap, Valentino Rossi climbed up from P3 to P1 in the Q1 with a quickie 1'49.421.
Just after, there was a big surprise for Dovi as Pedrosa pushed him down to P3, by hitting the top spot. Dovizioso was finally out of the Q2, resulting a worse Qualifying for the Ducati team since Lorenzo starts behind at P12. Q2 started off with a rapidly drying track, as riders went off with medium compound rain tyres. Marc Marquez got to the pace quickly as he climbed to the top spot, which he retained till the end.
Loris Baz surprised everyone after he clinched the P2 just behind Marquez, though he ended up at P9 after the flags went out. Karel Abraham got the best start of his GP career, as he starts at P2 tomorrow. The front row of the grid was completed by the British rider Cal Crutchlow. The second row of the grid has Danilo Petrucci, Dani Pedrosa and Maverick Viñales. Valentino Rossi starts the race tomorrow from P7. The top 10 was completed by Aleix Espargaro, Loris Baz and Alvaro Bautista. Andrea Iannone starts at P12, while the Ducati riders Andrea Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo start way behind at P13 and P16 respectively.
The MotoGP race is scheduled on Monday 12.30 "AM" (read tomorrow night :P). While we await a tough fight at the front for the podium tomorrow, stay tuned to BikesIndia for further updates on the 2017 MotoGP World Championship.
By: Aravind Rb