Motor Sport Images: MOTO GP - Not even even two crashes could stop Marquez from roaring to pole

A late crash couldn’t stop Marc Marquez from taking pole position with Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo behind him on the front row. It was a dramatic FP4 session as the red flag twice came out. With 19 and a half minutes remaining, Scott Redding (Octo Pramac Yakhnich) encountered an issue with the rear of his bike at Turn 6. The Brit was able to ride his bike off the track, but debris brought out the red flag. After a brief pause the session resumed. Riders returner to the track but the session was then brought to stop again as with four minutes remaining, the red flag was deployed again on safety grounds. Race Direction chose to investigate the Redding incident fully. At 14:25 Local Time the session was resumed for the final four minutes. As a result Michelin have withdrawn the two rear tyre options and replaced it with a ‘special’ rear featuring a harder construction to withstand the temperatures and demands of the Termas de Rio Hondo circuit. An extra 30 minute Free Practice session will be held at 09:00 Local Time to allow riders to adapt to the new situation. Monster Yamaha Tech 3 duo Pol Espargaro and Bradley Smith joined the top ten MotoGP™ World Championship riders for Q2. Track temperature was just above 40°C, slightly warmer than in FP3. All riders headed out with the hard front tyre and the medium option Michelin tyres for the start of the 15-minute session. It didn’t take long for the fast times to come, Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) ‘easing’ into the session with a 1’39.411, the fastest lap of the weekend. This time immediately put him a second clear of the rest of the field and saw the riders playing catch up. Unlike in Qatar, Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) returned to the pits after just a single flying lap, opting for a slightly different strategy to the rest of the field. His teammate, Valentino Rossi, chose to stay out for several laps and was the second rider to drop into the 1’39s by the half way mark of the session. Two or three stop strategies didn’t matter as the session came to a close, Marquez untouchable in the session. A crash at Turn 1 with three minutes remaining saw the Spaniard unable to improve his time, but no rider was able to get with 0.3s of his 1’39.411. This is Marquez’s first pole position since Phillip Island in 2015 and his 13th consecutive front row start in the premier class. On each of his visits to the Termas de Rio Hondo, Marquez has started on pole. A 1’39.786 saw ‘The Doctor’ as the only rider able to get within half a second of Marquez’s time. This is just Rossi’s 13th front row start since returning to Yamaha in 2013. Rossi’s last front row start came at the Malaysian GP in 2015, where he went on to finish third. The Italian proved in Qatar that if he can stay with the front riders he can battle for the podium, second on the grid gives him a perfect perch to launch from and stop Lorenzo and Marquez escaping. Completing the front row is defending MotoGP™ World Champion Jorge Lorenzo, third his worst grid position since he was fourth at the Malaysia GP in 2015. His 1’39.786 was 0.533s back on Marquez’s time, both riders having fallen at Turn 1 over the course of the Gran Premio Motul de la República Argentina weekend. Due to his crash in FP4 the Majorcan had only one bike for the session, a second fall would have been devastating. The top three were the only riders able to drop into the 1’39s. Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) will lead the charge from the second row, 0.6s behind his teammate. Fourth is a dramatic improvement over his seventh place start in Qatar. Pedrosa will be aiming to return to the podium after missing out in Qatar, the leading riders able to break away without him. Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) starts as the leading Ducati in fifth; his early pace not lasting until Qualifying as both the factory Ducati riders struggled slightly some speed. His teammate, Andrea Iannone, will start just behind him in sixth, 0.074s dividing the two riders. Both have had historically strong races in Argentina and Iannone needs to finish in the points after crashing out of the Qatar GP. After a promising start to the weekend, Maverick Viñales (Team Suzuki Ecstar) was only able to manage seventh on the grid. This may appear as a modest result, but is a three-place improvement over his 2015 Argentina GP start. Hector Barbera (Avintia Racing) secured the honours of top Independent Team rider once again as he grabbed eighth on the grid. Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) fell at Turn 1 as he began his second flying lap, the Brit on his feet and running back to the pits for his second machine immediately. He will begin the race in ninth. Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) will launch from 10th and ahead of brother Aleix Espargaro (Team Suzuki Ecstar). Brit Bradley Smith’s (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) Q2 session came to a premature end as he fell at Turn 1, starting 12th as a result. All of the top 12 were within a second of a half of each other. Colombian rider Yonny Hernandez (Aspar Team MotoGP) will start from 21st on the grid for his home round. Racing begins at 16:00 Local Time for the premier class in Argentina, the race lasting 22 laps.