Category: MotoGp

Track temperature is often the limiting factor in Barcelona, and it seemed to be the case for qualifying for the seventh round of the 2019 MotoGP World Championship.

Q1 saw Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) recover from his huge high-side in FP3 to top the session from Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar), who both advanced to Q2.

In Q2, Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) took his second MotoGP pole position in response to his first crash on a MotoGP machine in FP3. It was a crucial result for Quartararo because he has had a strong race pace all weekend. If he gets to turn one first it could be bad news for the others.

Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) has struggled, by his standards, this weekend in Montmelo. Nonetheless, he positioned himself well on the track for his second run in Q2, and with the assistance of a Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) tow he managed to take second place, and put himself in a good position for tomorrow. He might not have the outright pace of Quartararo or Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar), but he might not need it, such is the expectation of high tyre wear in the race and the speed of the Honda.

Franco Morbidelli took third place on the grid, which was quite remarkable considering the size of his crash in the morning. With Valentino Rossi taking his best qualifying since Texas as he took fourth. The circuit is a good one for Yamaha thanks to the long, flowing corners, which allow it to negate its disadvantage in the half-mile straight. Between Quartararo, Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), Morbidelli and Rossi, Yamaha has a good chance to take its first victory of the season tomorrow.

In the middle of the second row is Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati). The #04 has also looked strong this weekend, and seems to be in the frame for the podium fight. The nature of the tyres could see Dovizioso take his favoured strategy to hit the front and control the pace for the first part of the race to save his tyres. If his main rivals are Yamaha riders and the Suzuki of Alex Rins, Dovizioso has a strong chance to do just this in the 2019 Catalan GP, a race he won in a similar way from Marc Marquez in 2017.

Danilo Petrucci (Mission Winnow Ducati) will start from the back of row two. For both Petrucci and Dovizioso, the start could be crucial to allow the Ducati’s to control the race in the early part to try and save some tyre for what will surely be a battle at the end.

Maverick Vinales’ weekend has been a quiet one. The Spaniard was out of Q2 overnight but made a step in the morning. Third place in qualifying would have been his best since Argentina when he was second on the grid, but a three place penalty for blocking Quartararo leaves him in sixth for the start, which will be a crucial one for the #12.

Alex Rins perhaps has the strongest race pace, and it looked like for once he would be able to qualify well and be able to use that pace to escape at the front on Sunday, but a crash in turn ten on his second run whilst following Maverick Vinales cost him the front row. Instead, Rins will start eighth – not ideal, but better than he has endured in the past. There is still a good chance for Rins in the race to take his second MotoGP victory.

Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda CASTROL) will go from the back of the third row in ninth place after making a step overnight from a difficult Friday.

Jorge Lorenzo (Repsol Honda Team) had one of his best days of the season on qualifying day for the Catalan Grand Prix. He qualified directly to Q2 and will start tenth on the grid, joined by Joan Mir and Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing).

It has been a good weekend for Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Racing), who was fifth overnight. A crash in FP3 saw him go to Q1, which he was unable to advance from. Instead, Bagnaia qualified thirteenth, ahead of his teammate Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) who crashed in the Q1 session, but was unaffected. The two Pramac riders will be joined by Karel Abraham (Reale Avintia Racing) in what is an all-Ducati fifth row.

Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda IDEMITSU) is another rider who has looked strong this weekend, but was unable to deliver on his free practice promise come qualifying, when he ended up qualifying sixteenth. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) and Johann Zarco (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) join the Japanese rider on row six.

Tito Rabat (Reale Avintia Racing) will head up the seventh row, from the Red Bull KTM Tec3 pairing of Miguel Oliveira and Hafizh Syahrin; whilst the two wildcarding test riders, Bradley Smith (Aprilia Racing Team) and Sylvain Guintoli (Team Suzuki Ecstar), join Andrea Iannone (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) – who qualified last for the third consecutive race, thanks to mechanical issues with his number one bike – on the last row.

Featured Image courtesy of Yamaha Racing

Two weeks on from a magnificent race in Mugello at the Italian Grand Prix, the MotoGP World Championship heads to Barcelona for round seven of the 2019 season.

This weekend will be an important one for MotoGP, as it marks the seventieth anniversary of the motorcycle world championship, the first of course taking place on the Isle of Man back in 1949. Much has changed since day one, of course. The Ducati Desmosedici GP19 that Danilo Petrucci (Mission Winnow Ducat) rode to victory in Mugello two weeks ago almost unrecognisable in comparison to the Norton which won the 1949 Senior TT in the hands of Harold Daniell, and the story is the same when it comes to the tracks, the people involved, the culture of world championship motorcycle racing and politics involved. MotoGP is now a sport for complete professionals. Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) has said on many occasions how the sport of today misses some of the “romance” of that of his early career in the 1990s and 2000s. You would suspect that Daniell’s reaction to 1996, the year of Rossi’s World Championship debut, would be quite similar.

But, whilst MotoGP in its current form may be missing “romance”, it is certainly not missing entertainment or excitement. Mugello was a prime example of that, with four riders and three different bikes separated by only half a second over the line. Petrucci’s winning margin over Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) was just 0.043 seconds for his first ever MotoGP victory, and that is the MotoGP we see today: closer, more competitive than ever before.

Fresh from continuing Ducati’s reign in Mugello, which stretches now for three years, Petrucci arrives In Barcelona looking to continue a trend of the last two years, which has seen Ducati pilots take victory in Mugello, and then Barcelona, back-to-back, first with Andrea Dovizioso in 2017 and then with Jorge Lorenzo in 2018. Perhaps it seems less likely for Petrucci to continue this, especially considering his declarations in Mugello where he stated that from now on his primary focus is to help his teammate, Dovizioso, win the World Championship. However, it remains to be seen how Petrucci reacts to winning his first race, whether it will trigger him to continue winning, and to go on to win a lot more races as we have seen with other riders in the past – Dovizioso himself being a prime example.

Losing points to Marquez in Mugello was a disappointment for Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati) who will have seen the Italian round of the series as a chance to claim points back on the Spaniard. Instead, the #04 arrives in Montmelo in the knowledge that he must win, or at least beat Marquez, if he is to keep his championship hopes alive. The gap at the moment is twelve points, which may not seem like much, but with Assen and Sachsnering on the horizon, taking points in Spain this weekend will be vital for Dovizioso.

Strangely, Marquez has only won in Barcelona once in the premier class, back in 2014 when his then teammate Dani Pedrosa ran into the back of him in what was turn eleven, costing himself the win despite arguably being faster at the end of the race than the #93. Despite his low frequency of top step visits in Montmelo, Marquez has missed the podium only once in MotoGP at the Circuit Barcelona-Catalunya, and that came in his troubled 2015 season, when he was pushing over the limit to try and go with Jorge Lorenzo on the Yamaha M1, who eventually won. Marquez has finished second in each of the three Catalan Grands Prix since then, to Valentino Rossi in 2016, to Dovizioso in 2017 and to Lorenzo last year. The reigning champion is, though, on great form, and will be a strong favourite going into this weekend.

The fourth rider in the group at Mugello was Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) who had yet another strong comeback from a poor qualifying. What Mugello exposed was Suzuki’s continuing lack of top speed. Fortunately for Suzuki, whilst they miss top end they have a bike which can punch off corners well from low speed, which is what Yamaha miss. Rins was able to use this to stay with the group, although had he managed to establish a gap of half a second or more, he could have gotten away such was his speed in the corners. The straight in Montmelo could also prove a problem for the GSX-RR this weekend, but in his home race Rins could be the only rider with a strong shot at challenging Marquez – but he needs to qualify well.

Valentino Rossi has won ten times in Montmelo, the most recent of those being that 2016 triumph over Marquez. The last two years have been contrasting for the Italian, though, with Barcelona proving one of Yamaha’s weakest tracks in 2017 when he finished only eighth, although it was a return to the Catalan podium last year as he finished third behind Marquez and Lorenzo. After a disastrous home round in Mugello, and with questions being asked about his commitment to his Yamaha contract in the current, disappointing, moment in the Iwata marque’s history, Rossi will be eager to put the voices considering a close retirement for The Doctor on hold this weekend, especially with Assen next up on the calendar, which could prove his last opportunity to win in 2019.

For Rossi’s teammate at Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP, Maverick Vinales, Mugello was little better. Vinales came home as top Yamaha in Italy, but that meant only sixth place. In fact, Mugello was a catastrophe for Yamaha. At a track where they had been on the podium for fifteen consecutive years, the top Yamaha was almost seven seconds from the rostrum. Anyway, like Rossi, Vinales will be aiming for redemption this weekend, at his home race.

It should be noted that Barcelona is the circuit at which, twelve months ago, Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) took his first GP victory. One year one, he could be Yamaha’s best bet of a win in Barcelona and is looking in fine form, having nearly taken pole in Mugello before finishing tenth in the race as top rookie.

Finally, the grid will have twenty-four bikes this weekend, as Suzuki test rider Sylvain Guintoli and Aprilia test rider Bradley Smith will be in action for their respective factories.

Mugello is a special race track, and it often throws up some special races when MotoGP visits for the Italian Grand Prix. That was no different for the 2019 edition, which saw Danilo Petrucci (Mission Winnow Ducati) claim his first Grand Prix victory.

The race started dimly, as Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) hit the front from the beginning of the race, which he started from an intelligently-won pole position. The championship leader led from Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda CASTROL) early on, but before the end of the first laps, the factory Ducatis of Petrucci and Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati) had scythed their way through the Briton and set their sights on Marquez.

Marquez was expected to have the pace to get away, hence the dim prospects in the initial stages. However, it soon became clear that this would not be possible for the Spaniard, and the front group remained as large as ten riders for the first half of the race. Whilst the group was big, there was a lot of fighting, like a 1000cc Moto3 race.

Over time, though, the group thinned, to eight bikes, then six, and finally we were left with four riders: Marquez, Petrucci, Dovizioso and Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar).

They were clear of the rest coming into the final lap, onto which Petrucci led. However, when they arrived at San Donato for the final time it was Marquez who made it to the apex first. Unfortunately for the #93, he then steamed straight past the corner, and allowed Dovizioso underneath him. Unfortunately for Dovizioso, he had his teammate underneath him. The #04 backed out, which let Petrucci off the hook in the lead, and Marquez into second round the outside.

When you watch MotoGP, things are very visual, and two of the most visual things on the final lap in Mugello were the different characteristics of the Ducati and the Honda, and the riding styles of their pilots; and that Marquez had run out of edge grip, as a result of the characteristics of the Honda and his riding style. Marquez was running visibly more lean angle than the Ducati riders all race, because Ducati don’t use the edge of the tyre, and minimise their mid-corner speed, whilst Marquez on the Honda maximises his corner speed, and thus sacrifices his edge grip. By the final lap, there was little for Marquez to fight with. He tried to set up a pass in Palaggio, to run round the outside of Scarperia to put himself on the inside for Palaggio, but he couldn’t carry the speed, and throughout the lap Marquez’ Honda was wildly out of line on the right-hand braking zones.

Those issues for Marquez, combined with a fantastic final lap for Danilo Petrucci, handed the ex-Superstock rider his first race win since the final round of the STK1000 championship at Portimao in 2011. To win your first GP in Italy, at Mugello for the Italian Grand Prix, on a factory Ducati, to make it three wins in succession in Mugello for the Desmosedici, is an incredibly special achievement, one which was worthy of Petrucci’s emotional explosion in the moments after the race. He told the post-race podium press conference that he wanted to dedicate his debut MotoGP win to his teammate, Dovizioso, as he had “adopted me like a brother” since the start of the year when Petrucci began life as a factory Ducati rider.

Dovizioso’s hesitation in San Donato on the final lap was all it took to secure Marquez second place, and to extend his championship lead over the #04 by four points to carry a twelve-point advantage into his home Grand Prix at Montmelo, where it is going to be exceedingly difficult for Dovizioso to take points from Marquez.

Whichever way you look at it, it was a stunning race from each of the riders on the podium, and the rider who finished just off it – Alex Rins. The Spaniard had a go at Dovizioso in the final corner, but couldn’t make it stick. Some more horsepower could have seen Rins win quite comfortably, as he was so fast with the GSX-RR throughout the lap. It was just the straight where he was losing out, but when the races are so close, the straights are perhaps more important than the corners when it comes to a dogfight on Sunday.

Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda IDEMITSU) took the top ‘independent’ spot with fifth place, his best finish in MotoGP, to return to the top ten after missing it for the first time in Le Mans where he crashed. The Japanese also had the satisfaction of beating the factory Yamaha of Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) who was limited to sixth by a bad start, a bad first lap and the poor straight line performance of the M1. Similarly limited as Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT), who started second but was ninth by the end of the first lap, and tenth at the end of the race.

Between Vinales and Quartararo were the wildcard Michele Pirro (Mission Winnow Ducati) in an impressive seventh, Cal Crutchlow in an eighth place likely the result of a hole in his rear tyre, and Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing).

Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) finished eleventh, although felt that a top ten was possible without contact with Johann Zarco (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing). Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) recovered from some contact with Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), which caused both riders to go off the track at Materassi/Borgo San Lorenzo, to finish twelfth, ahead of Jorge Lorenzo (Repsol Honda Team), Karel Abraham (Reale Avintia Racing) and Andrea Iannone (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) who took the final point in fifteenth.

Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Tech3) was sixteenth, but ahead of the factory KTM of Zarco in seventeenth, who wad the final classified rider.

Tito Rabat (Reale Avintia Racing) had to start from pit lane, and was out before the end of the first lap; whilst Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) crashed on lap five. Valentino Rossi’s miserable home GP was over two laps after Morbidelli’s when he crashed at Arrabbiata 2; then Hafizh Syahrin (Red Bull KTM Tech3) retired with fourteen laps to go, two laps before Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Racing) ended a strong home race in the gravel of Bucine. Finally, Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) crashed out at Materassi, eight laps from the flag.

Featured image courtesy of Ducati

The MotoGP qualifying session for the sixth round of the 2019 World Championship at Mugello, the Italian Grand Prix, got underway in near-perfect conditions, with the sun having baked the track all day.

In Q1, it was Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati) and wildcard Michele Pirro (Mission Winnow Ducati) who advanced to the Q2 pole position shootout, taking the edge off the disappointment of the majority of the crowd, whose chosen favourite Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) could manage only eighth in Q1, meaning he will start his home race from eighteenth.

Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) spent most of his second Q2 run negotiating track position with Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati). Eventually, for his final lap, Marquez achieved the perfect distance from the back of the #04, got some tow down the straight to start the lap, a perfect marker ahead of him through the lap, and a strong tow down the straight to finish the lap as well. He took pole with a stunning 1’45.519, taking seven tenths from Rossi’s lap record from last year. This pole also moves him one clear of Rossi in the all-time premier class poles list.

Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) impressed once more, as he became the first rider to break the 1’46 barrier in Mugello on a MotoGP bike. He did three laps in the 1’45s, but the power deficit of his Yamaha compared to the Honda of Marquez cost him pole position.

Danilo Petrucci (Mission Winnow Ducati) identified himself as the biggest hope for the Italian crowd on Sunday as he qualified third, living up to the expectations that had been amassing over the course of what has been a difficult, but strong weekend for the #9.

Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) had a place on the front row until Marquez fired his pole lap in, but will start from a strong fourth place, meaning that once more both Petronas SRT Yamahas have out-qualified both factory M1s. Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) and Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda CASTROL) join the Italian on row two.

Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) heads up row three, from Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Racing) and the struggling Andrea Dovizioso; whilst Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda IDEMITSU) impressively put the 2018 Honda in tenth place, ahead of Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and Michele Pirro.

Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) once again left himself with a tough job for Sunday as he qualified thirteenth, ahead of Tito Rabat (Reale Avintia Racing) and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini); whilst Karel Abraham (Reale Avintia Racing) heads up row six from the struggling multiple World Champions, Jorge Lorenzo (Repsol Honda Team) and Valentino Rossi. Row seven consists of Johann Zarco (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) – who might have improved on his final lap before a crash at Corentaio ended his chances – Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) and Hafizh Syahrin (Red Bull KTM Tech3). Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Tech3) and Andrea Iannone (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) complete the grid.

Featured image courtesy of Box Repsol

The MotoGP World Championship heads to the rolling hills of Tuscany this weekend, and the Mugello circuit for the Italian Grand Prix – round six of the 2019 season.

Mugello is a special event for the crowd. Usually baked in glorious sunshine, the Italians avoid sleep, and attach amplifying devices to their motors to ensure the spectators are unable to hear the 300hp MotoGP machines as they head down to San Donato.

That in itself is a unique moment of the season: storming out of Bucine in third gear, cutting over the pit lane, the bike goes light over the crest at 170mph. Once the front wheel is settled, the rider has to direct the machine, at over 200mph, at the edge of the grass lining the track on the side of the pit wall, to cut the chevrons which separate the track from the pit lane exit. At this point the track rises, and is turning right; as it crests once more, it starts to move left again. The rider has to wrestle the bike at 220mph to keep the front wheel communicating with the floor, and turning the bike back to the left to prepare the entry to turn one at San Donato. Additionally, atop the crest the asphalt is quite bumpy, and the aerodynamic effect going on at the top of the crest means that the bikes often get out of shape. This is what caught out Michele Pirro last year on the factory Ducati, as his brake pads were knocked back, so when he grabbed the front brake at over 200mph, he had nothing, so he kept grabbing until eventually something happened- too much, in fact, as he was launched skywards, and landed hard. Pirro missed the rest of the weekend, but was thankfully back at the track on Sunday to watch Jorge Lorenzo take his first victory in red.

From the terror of San Donato, the track is equally beautiful for the remaining fourteen corners; long, rolling bends flowing up and down two sides of a valley – the beauty of Mugello is undeniable.

For some, however, it is more beautiful than for others. Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team), for example, has crashed out of three of his six MotoGP races in Mugello, and has only one win – in 2014 – and a single podium – in 2016 in that classic last lap battle with Jorge Lorenzo to whom he finished second. Although, there is a strange beauty for Marquez in going to Italy – one which his teammate for 2019 at Repsol Honda, Jorge Lorenzo, has relished in the past, having scored six premier class wins there, including the aforementioned triumph on the Desmosedici last year. This strange beauty is of course to be in the house of their deepest rival: Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP). This year promises to be a trickier task for Lorenzo, who has missed feeling with his Honda RC213V all season. However, after being written off before the Italian Grand Prix twelve months ago, Lorenzo will be quietly optimistic of a positive weekend in Tuscany. Marquez, on the other hand, was showing good speed in the race last season, before a crash at Scarperia cost him any points, and will be hoping that the agility of the Honda will marry well with its more powerful motor for 2019, to power him to his second Italian Grand Prix victory.

Whilst there is almost an anti-beauty in Mugello for Marquez and Lorenzo, the feeling for the Italian riders at their home Grand Prix is never anything but special. Loud crowds make their presence known from dawn on Thursday, and do not let their noise dissipate until they depart on Monday – ‘Al Mugello non si dorme’.

Especially, the Italian Grand Prix is a special one for the aforementioned home favourite, Valentino Rossi. It is hard to go to Mugello without recounting Rossi’s golden years in Tuscany, where he was unbeaten between 2002 and 2008, winning on both Honda and Yamaha; but also his heartache of recent years, be it the expiration of his M1’s motor in 2016 which cost him a strong shot at the win, or his motocross accident in 2017 a week before practice began which ended his victory hopes before the weekend had even begun. This year, there is little promise of a return to the form of the early 2000s, as the Yamaha’s speed deficit to its rivals has simply become too much, which cost The Doctor against the Ducati trio in front of him in Le Mans, and with Mugello’s front stretch being the fastest of the year, it is unlikely that those issues will cease to plague him this weekend. However, the Yamaha is working well in the corners, so if Rossi can get to the front, he may have the possibility forge himself an advantage.

Doing that, though, will be challenging when there are three – at least – Ducatis, as well as the Hondas of Marquez and – possibly – Lorenzo lining up for their shot at Italian glory. Particularly for Ducati, this weekend is an important one. They would have expected to challenge Marquez in Le Mans, but instead the World Champion disappeared. At home, Ducati have won the last two years, first with Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati) in 2017, and second with Lorenzo last season. Additionally, they have Michele Pirro with them once again, on the ‘lab’ bike – the person who tells you the spec of that motorcycle will have eaten their final meal – as well as Danilo Petrucci (Mission Winnow Ducati) who took his first podium for the factory team in Le Mans last time out, and took his first dry weather MotoGP podium for Pramac in Mugello two years ago. Finally, there is Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) who is, firstly, after Petrucci’s seat for 2019 and, secondly, after his second rostrum of the season, and first MotoGP win since Assen 2016. It could be a big weekend for the Bologna Bullets, and they simply must beat Marquez and Honda.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nx2Ff7Y3_G0

Suzuki also face an important weekend, and one in which they must overcome their qualifying difficulties which limited Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) to tenth in Le Mans after starting only nineteenth and Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) to only one place better in qualifying, before he crashed on the warm up lap and finished a lap down in the race.

Other riders to keep an eye on this weekend include Andrea Iannone (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) who finished second in 2015 before the Ducati could turn; Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) who is in the middle of a stunning rookie season and should have had two podiums by now; Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) who was fast in Mugello last season despite being on the disagreeable satellite Honda; and the KTM riders off the back of Pol Espargaro’s (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) impressive sixth place in France two weeks ago.

Featured image courtesy of Box Repsol

Despite several expectations of rain on Sunday, the weather proved fair for the fifth round of the MotoGP World Championship in Le Mans.

The drama started before the race, as both Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) and Karel Abraham (Reale Avintia Racing) crashed at turn three on the warm up lap. Mir got back into the race, but Abraham was black flagged for leaving pit lane after the leader had completed the first lap.

That leader was Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team), who made the holeshot from pole position, despite some challenge from Danilo Petrucci (Ducati Team). The Italian had another shot at the lead at the beginning of lap two, when he slid up the inside of Marquez at turn three. However, Petrucci ran wide and Marquez was able to reclaim the lead around the outside of turn four. The Spaniard then began to pull away, and Petrucci became more concerned with events behind him.

Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) was starting to put pressure on Petrucci’s second place, and eventually got past his Ducati stablemate. The Australian pushed hard after that to catch Marquez, a task in which he was successful, as he was in passing Marquez for the lead. Miller held the lead for only two laps, though, after which point Marquez had decided he had had enough, repassed the #43 and was not challenged again for the remainder of the race.

In the middle of the race, the three Ducatis of Miller, Petrucci and Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) distanced themselves from those behind, and set about a three-way fight for second place. Petrucci had re-joined Dovizioso and Miller after having previously dropped to sixth place behind Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), who he re-passed when the Yamaha rider’s pace started to slow in the middle of the race. When he got back to his two Ducati stablemates, Miller had been passed by Dovizioso when the Italian took advantage of a mistake at Museum by the Australian.

By the end of the race, Petrucci too had passed Miller, and Rossi was closing in from behind on the trio. Miller didn’t have the grip to challenge his factory rivals, having used the edge grip earlier in the race to catch and pass Marquez, so that left Petrucci to try to make a pass stick on Dovizioso which, as he demonstrated, is not easy. In fact, Petrucci found this impossible at Le Mans and, despite several attempts from the #9 to pass in Museum, Dovizioso came out on top.

It was a positive result for Dovizioso, and a return to the podium after missing it in the last two races, but he still lost out to Marquez by almost two seconds. The next three races will be important for Dovizioso to take points from Marquez, who dominated not only Sunday’s French Grand Prix, but also the majority of the season up to this point. For there to be a real title challenge, Dovizioso must have his eight-point deficit overturned by German Grand Prix.

To do that will not be easy, mostly because of Marquez. The Spaniard has been fantastic this year, and has been the only rider to get the maximum out of the 2019 Honda on each weekend. In fact, in the last two races, Marquez has not only far out-performed the adapting Jorge Lorenzo (Repsol Honda Team) but also Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda CASTROL). Next up is Mugello, which is typically good for Dovizioso and Ducati but bad for Marquez and Honda. However, whereas in the past the Ducati would make its time in the corners but lose in the straights to everything else, in 2019 the Honda has an answer for the Desmosedici in the straight line, and can out-perform it in the corners.

Danilo Petrucci came home in third place for his first podium with the factory Ducati team after his move from Pramac over the winter. It was an important result for Petrucci, who started the season with three sixths and a fifth, and was starting to look under threat for the 2020 Ducati seat alongside Dovizioso from Jack Miller, who finished fourth in Le Mans as top ‘independent’, and became the first person to overtake Marc Marquez in a race since the final corner at Qatar.

Valentino Rossi did not have an answer for the Ducatis, despite coming on strong in the end of the race once again, proving Yamaha’s gains when it comes to tyre wear. Mostly, Rossi’s problem was horsepower, as he simply lacked the motor put himself in a position to fight the Desmosedici GP19s in front of him. Unfortunately for Rossi, and his fellow Yamaha riders, there will of course be no new Yamaha powerplant until 2020, such are the regulations.

Pol Espargaro and the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team enjoyed their best-ever dry race finish, as Espargaro crossed the line 5.9 seconds from Marquez in sixth place. There is the possibility to argue that part of this result was down to the Austrian marque testing a couple of weeks before the GP, combined with the wet weather on Saturday which limited the setup time of their opposition. However, Espargaro was fast all weekend, showing good speed in both the dry and the wet, so it was important for KTM that he translated that into the race. Now they have to do it again.

Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) started the race well, and was in the top positions. However, the Italian soon started to fall back, and ended the race in seventh. In fact, Morbidelli was just 1.3 seconds ahead of Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) over the line, after the Frenchman made an average start from his average qualifying position of twelfth, and had an average first ten laps as he was stuck in traffic. The Yamaha being the Yamaha, it was not easy for the Frenchman to make passes, but once he had clear track he was showing pace good enough to at least have him in the fight with Marquez, potentially. If you can’t qualify well, it is difficult to expect to win, but that is an acceptable lesson for a rookie to be learning in just his fifth MotoGP.

Cal Crutchlow, as previously mentioned, was unable to match the pace of his Honda stablemate Marquez in France. Instead, he finished ninth, nearly ten seconds behind the Spaniard – a contrast to the form the Brit showed in the first three races of the season.

Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) completed the top ten in France, after a disappointing race which did not turn out to be the comeback he had hoped for.

Jorge Lorenzo had probably his best race with the Repsol Honda Team to date, despite finishing eleventh and extending his run without a top ten finish which stretches back to Austria last year. The result is not everything, though, in the case of Lorenzo, who was able to start the race strongly and fight inside the top ten.

There were fourteen seconds behind Lorenzo to Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) which perhaps shows the amount of ground Aprilia still need to make up with their RSGP, and it is not made any easier to take by the good result of KTM. Espargaro, though, was in front of the other three KTMs of Johann Zarco (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) in thirteenth, Hafizh Syahrin (Red Bull KTM Tech3) in fourteenth for his first points of the season and Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Tech3) in fifteenth for the final point.

Joan Mir was the final classified finisher in sixteenth, although a lap down after his warm up lap crash.

Along with Karel Abraham, there were several riders whose races ended early, Tito Rabat (Reale Avintia Racing) who retired early on, before Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Racing) fetched both himself and Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) off in turn twelve; Andrea Iannone (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) retired and Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda MotoGP) crashed out with nine laps to go.

Featured image courtesy of Box Repsol

Whilst Friday was dry and FP3 on Saturday morning was distinctly wet for the MotoGP riders at the fifth round of the 2019 series in Le Mans, the qualifying session was run in dreadful conditions, with neither compound of wet tyre, nor any of the slick tyres, offering the perfect solution to the track conditions.

Surprisingly, Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) made a gamble at the start of Q1 by going for slicks straight away, whilst everyone else went for wets. Whilst the Italian’s first laps were slow, he built temperature in his tyres, which brought confidence, and he managed to get himself through to Q2.

When everyone else went to slicks, they couldn’t build the temperature, nor the confidence, and so quickly went back to wets, which also failed to provide the grip they needed. That meant that it was Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) who joined Rossi in advancing to Q2, after the satellite Yamaha riders was the fastest of the wet tyre runners in the first part of the session.

The conditions worsened for Q2. However, the difference was barely noticeable. This convinced all the Yamaha riders apart from Morbidelli to go out on slicks at the start of the session. This turned out to be a mistake and as Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) was setting his pole time, the Rossi, Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) and Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) were busy swapping bikes.

The pole for Marquez came at a minor cost. The lap after he set pole, started well as he set the fastest sector one time of the session, but just a second later the Spaniard was on the floor. He didn’t come back to the pits, though, and continued circulating on his crashed bike, whilst getting nowhere near his fastest time to that point. It was a strange session, especially for Marquez, but his time in Q2 gave him his fifty-fifth pole position, which brings him level with Rossi on all-time premier class poles, and three behind Mick Doohan.

Second to Marquez was Danilo Petrucci (Ducati Team), who also set his time early on. Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) did the same to qualify third, although like Marquez his session was tainted by a crash, this time for Miller at turn three. With two Ducatis equipped with the holeshot device starting on the front row tomorrow, alongside Marquez, getting to turn three first could be a challenge for the reigning World Champion.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) and Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) did important work for their respective championship bids in Q2, qualifying fourth and fifth, respectively, and thus giving them a decent shot at a good result tomorrow. Morbidelli will make row two an all-Italian affair.

Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda IDEMITSU) was another who suffered a crash, but still qualified seventh, ahead of Jorge Lorenzo (Repsol Honda Team) and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) who completes row three.

Fabio Quartararo was visibly disappointed with qualifying tenth for his home GP, but not as disappointed as Maverick Vinales was to qualify eleventh after seeming to be the only rider who can challenge Marquez in Le Mans for much of the weekend. Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) completes the fourth row.

Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Racing) was the fastest of the Q1 riders to miss out on Q2, and he will head up the fifth row, from home favourite Johann Zarco (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda CASTROL).
Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Tech3) will start from sixteenth, ahead of Karel Abraham (Reale Avintia Racing) and Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar). It was the first time this season that Mir has out-qualified his teammate, Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar), as the #42 – who lies just one point off the championship lead – qualified just nineteenth, and will be joined on the seventh row by Tito Rabat (Reale Avintia Racing) and Hafizh Syahrin (Red Bull KTM Tech3). Andrea Iannone (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) was the twenty-second and final qualifier.

Featured image courtesy of Box Repsol

This weekend the MotoGP World Championship heads to the Bugatti Circuit at Le Mans, the home of the 24 Heures Motos and 24 Heures du Mans.

In the last two years, it has been Johann Zarco aboard a satellite Yamaha who has been the poster boy on which the hopes of the French fans have been pinned. However, with the #5’s transfer over the winter to Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, which has yet to yield much other than frustration for both parties, it is Fabio Quartararo on the Petronas Yamaha SRT YZR-M1 who is the home fans’ best hope of a podium this weekend.

Indeed, a podium this weekend for the #20 would be his first in the premier class, although it should have arrived two weeks ago. Assuming the Frenchman’s rear tyre was not about to suffer a similar fate to that of his Petronas Yamaha SRT teammate, Franco Morbidelli, Quartararo was on for third place at least in Jerez a fortnight ago. A gear shift problem halted his charge, and forced him to retire. But between taking pole position and seeming to be on for a debut rostrum in just his fourth MotoGP start, it was a stunning weekend for the star Frenchman, who twelve months ago finished eighth in the French Moto2 Grand Prix, nearly fifteen seconds behind dominant winner Francesco Bagnaia. After the devastation of Jerez, Quartararo will be more determined than ever to arrive on the rostrum this weekend, and maybe even climb to the top step.

The Frenchman was certainly more competitive in Jerez than his Yamaha stablemates, especially the ones in the factory Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP team: Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi. Whilst Vinales was impressively able to make a rostrum – his first since Australia 2018 – out of a severely messy weekend, Rossi was only able to salvage sixth from thirteenth on the grid. There were several issues for both the factory Yamaha riders throughout the weekend, so Vinales’ third place was a positive sign, especially at a track which has been so tough for the factory M1s since 2016. Compared to Jerez, the Yamaha riders have been strong in Le Mans in the last few years.

In fact, Yamaha’s history in Le Mans is impressive in general. Since 2008, Yamaha have won seven times in France, and have had a rider on the podium at the French GP every year since 2008 with the exception of 2011 when Jorge Lorenzo was the top Yamaha in fourth. Still without a win in 2019, the YZR-M1 riders will be targeting the top step this weekend and, especially for Vinales and Rossi, it will be important to win for their respective championship chances.

The championship chances of Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) are rarely in doubt, and he reclaimed the championship lead he surrendered in Austin last time out in Jerez with a dominant win. When Marquez won in Jerez in 2018, he backed it up with a win in Le Mans, a circuit where it was not expected that he could win. It was Marquez’ second premier class win in France, after he took victory in 2014, and continued the run of Spanish winners at the French track which stretches back to Lorenzo’s wet weather victory in 2012.

Last year’s win for Marquez was easier for him than it perhaps should have been. It was not easy, by any means, hence the widely-shared slow-motion shot of him losing the front through the first part of the Dunlop Chicane, but Andrea Dovizioso was expected to put up more of a fight. The Ducati Team bikes will look a little different this weekend, as they will be without their Mission Winnow sponsorship, but for the first time since Qatar we are arriving at a circuit where the Ducati is expected to be one of the best-suited bikes, if not the best. However, the factory Ducati team has not had a podium in Le Mans since Dovizioso was third behind the two factory Yamahas of Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi.

On the other hand, Danilo Petrucci (Ducati Team) was second for the Pramac Racing Ducati team last season, two seconds behind Marquez and three in front of Rossi. Additionally, Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) had the pace for third last year, to be in front of Rossi, but a series of mistakes let the veteran Italian off the hook. Certainly, the signs are good for Ducati this weekend but, as always, the task of defeating Marc Marquez will be a tough one to negotiate.

For Suzuki, Le Mans is a circuit of good memories. In 2007, Chris Vermeulen won in the rain for the Hamamatsu marque’s first MotoGP win. Nine years later, Maverick Vinales scored his first MotoGP podium for Suzuki, which was also the first of the GSX-RR since it was introduced in 2015. Now, as Team Suzuki Ecstar look to be entering into their first championship fight since their return to the World Championship just four years ago. They arrive in Le Mans, two weeks after a second place about which they would have been excused for being disappointed, and will no doubt be targeting the victory with their emerging star, Alex Rins. Le Mans also holds good memories for the Spaniard, who has four podiums;  including a win in the Moto2 race back in 2016, which was one year on from his debut Moto2 pole position in 2015.

Whilst Rins has a good history in Le Mans, Jorge Lorenzo (Repsol Honda Team) has the best history of anyone. No one has seen more success than Lorenzo in Le Mans. Perhaps that seems strange – such a stop-start track should surely suit a hard-braking rider, but Lorenzo’s wide, sweeping, arcing lines combined with his obsessive focus on corner exit means he is able to maximise the straights, and get onto them better than anyone else. Jerez did not go to plan for Lorenzo, he admitted he is still not comfortable with the RC213V, but perhaps Le Mans will be the place where he finally discovers his potential on the Honda.

Whilst Saturday in Jerez saw the MotoGP riders circulate under clouds, and Sunday morning’s warm up the same, the Andalusian sun was out for the race, and had been cooking the track up since the beginning of the Moto3 race.

Perhaps this is the reason for the subdued pace at the start of the race. Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) made the holeshot, and led from Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) at the start. Having been the fastest on pace all weekend, it might have been expected that Marquez would pull away, running the high-1’37s he had been capable of through the weekend. However, Marquez’ first laps were in the mid-1’38s – in fact, the second lap was his slowest of the race.

There seemed to be chance for Morbidelli, who was very close to Marquez in several places, and looked poised to pass him for the lead. However, once Marquez had settled into his rhythm and the pace dropped to low-1’38s and high-1’37s, the gap began to grow. Once Morbidelli had lost touch of Marquez, his rhythm seemed to drop.

Petronas Yamaha SRT teammate, Fabio Quartararo, was soon by Morbidelli. There was already a two second gap to Marquez, but the Frenchman was able to pull clear of his more experienced teammate, who was now under pressure from Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) after the Spaniard had got past Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati) a lap or two later than he would have hoped.

It took Rins another lap or two to line up Morbidelli, and as he passed the Italian for third, Quartararo retired simultaneously. It was quite heart-breaking to see the Frenchman put out of contention after such a fantastic weekend, a stunning pole and with such a clear shot at a first-ever MotoGP podium. But a gearbox or gear lever problem forced him out, and Rins inherited his secod place.

Quartararo’s retirement meant that when Rins passed Morbidelli, the Italian retained a provisional podium position, but it was not long before Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) was able to pass him in the straight from turn five to turn six. The speed with which Vinales was able to dispatch Morbidelli indicated the satellite Yamaha rider’s tyre woes. They were on equal machinery but Vinales took only half of the 0.3-mile long straight to pass his stablemate.

Dovizioso was next to pass Morbidelli, and then Danilo Petrucci (Mission Winnow Ducati). The two factory Ducati riders would then engage Maverick Vinales in the battle for the final podium spot.

In the meantime, Morbidelli fell back to Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda CASTROL) and Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) behind, who were also coming under pressure from Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) who had made almost no progress from the first lap when he was tenth. Quartararo’s retirement had promoted Rossi to ninth, but in the mid-race he appeared to have no answer for the riders ahead of him.

But, as Morbidelli fell behind Crutchlow and then Miller, Rossi arrived, and made quick work of the three of them. It was too late for the Italian to do anything about the factory Ducatis and, anyway, he lacked the pace late in the race.

By now, Alex Rins had given up any hope of closing on the dominant Marquez, and was starting to slip closer to Vinales, who was pushing on to try to keep Dovizioso at bay, whilst Petrucci had been dropped by the pair of them.
In the end, there was no change. Marquez picked up his second successive Jerez victory, his third in the premier class, and received the championship lead with it.

Alex Rins, on the other hand, moved up to second in the championship, one point adrift of Marquez with a solid second place. Once more, it was Rins’ qualifying which prevented him from taking the race win. It seems to be a Suzuki issue more than a Rins issue when it comes to qualifying, since Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) is rarely strong in time attacks either, but in any case it is an issue that Rins and Suzuki need to remedy if they are to achieve the results necessary to challenge for the championship.

Maverick Vinales had never achieved a premier class podium in Jerez before this weekend. He arrived at Yamaha at the wrong moment for that, and the Suzuki always struggled in the heat whilst he was a GSX-RR pilot. However, his third place is proof of the progress Yamaha has made over the winter, and that should give him, the team, his teammate and the factory confidence going forward – they are in the right direction.

Vinales’ resolve in the final lap – which was his fastest of the race – of course meant Dovizioso missed the podium, and is still without a podium in a premier class race at Jerez. Nonetheless, the Italian goes to one of Ducati’s strongest tracks in two weeks’ time at Le Mans only three points off Marquez’ championship lead.

Danilo Petrucci took fifth place, his best finish of the season after a trio of sixths to open his factory Ducati career. Like Dovizioso, Petrucci had seemed to have the potential to fight with Marquez in the race, certainly to have a good shot at the podium. However, another poor qualifying limited his chances, and he struggled for pace at the end of the race.

Valentino Rossi salvaged a sixth place out of what was quite a bad weekend. If it was cloudy he may have had more, but it was not and he suffered in the mid-race. Like Petrucci, his potential was limited by a poor qualifying position, but ultimately The Doctor lacked pace in Jerez, and will need better in the next races if he is to do as people suggested after Austin, and fight for the championship.

Despite being passed by Crutchlow earlier in the race, Morbidelli was able to re-pass the Briton towards the end. Seventh was perhaps not the result the Italian was hoping for after a stunning qualifying, but it is possible to say that he got sucked in by Marquez. He saw seven world titles in front of him, and who can blame him for wanting to have a go at that? Perhaps it was that which killed his tyres and his late race pace, but either way there is no doubt Morbidelli would have learned a lot in this race.

Cal Crutchlow picked a medium rear tyre. He was in front of Morbidelli when Valentino Rossi went past them, but was nearly two seconds behind at the flag, and only a couple of tenths clear of teammate Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda IDEMITSU). Crutchlow admitted in the weekend that he was suffering with his foot after the first three races, and for mobility in his injured ankle. His FP4 crash was unlikely to help his physical condition, but after pole position last year the Brit will have been disappointed with his performance this weekend.

Stefan Bradl (Team HRC) had the prettiest bike on the grid, and rounded out the top ten with it, quite impressively.

Five seconds and two places – Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) was in between – behind Bradl was Jorge Lorenzo (Repsol Honda Team) who was unexpectedly slow. He dropped to fifteenth in the early stages, and made little progress from there, which was a complete surprise after his strong pace in the weekend, ending the race twelfth.

Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) assumed his normal position as top KTM in thirteenth place, six seconds ahead of teammate Johann Zarco (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) who turned his disastrous weekend into two points. Tito Rabat (Reale Avintia Racing) took the final point in fifteenth.

Karel Abraham (Reale Avintia Racing) was eight seconds behind teammate Rabat, and nearly five seconds in front of Aprilia test rider Bradley Smith (Aprilia Racing Team). A couple of tenths further back of Smith was Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Tech3) who had his most difficult weekend of MotoGP so far, but still nine seconds ahead of Hafizh Syahrin (Red Bull KTM Tech3) who was last of the nineteen finishers.

Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Racing) crashed at turn two, before Quartararo joined him in retirement. Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) had spent the majority of the race staring at the backside of Valentino Rossi, but ended it on the floor at turn thirteen. Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) was down at turn thirteen, too – Aleix Espargaro ran wide whilst passing the Aussie, Miller cut back underneath him but folded the front, and Espargaro was lucky to stay on – Miller less so.

The overcast skies of FP3, which were expected to disappear in the afternoon, remained for MotoGP qualifying at the fourth round of the World Championship in Jerez.

The action started early, in Q1. Both factory Yamaha riders had failed to go directly to Q2 from the combined free practice times, and so had to battle it out in Q1. As has become quite ordinary, Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) was unable to advance to Q2. Spinning the rear tyre on his final lap cost him three tenths in the second sector, and he dropped three more in sector three. This meant that Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Racing) joined Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), who went faster in Q1 than he had been all weekend, in advancing from Q1 to Q2.

The real surprise, though, came in Q2, when Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) took pole position in just his fourth MotoGP, and the same for the team. In taking pole, Quartararo became the first rookie pole-sitter since Johann Zarco on the satellite Yamaha at Motegi 2017, and the youngest rider to set pole in MotoGP history, taking the record from Marc Marquez who took his first pole at Austin 2013. The Frenchman has had a fantastic start to his premier class career, but even still such a result was completely unexpected. He now has the chance to fight for his first MotoGP podium on Sunday. The same can be said for Quartararo’s Petronas Yamaha SRT teammate, Franco Morbidelli, who completed a quite perfect day for the new team by making it a 1-2 for them on the grid for tomorrow.

Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) was the favourite for pole coming into this session. The Spaniard did three runs, but the first one was the fastest, when he seemed to be held up by Repsol Honda teammate Jorge Lorenzo in the final corner. He was attacking his last lap in Q2 until turn seven, when he lost the front. That was the moment that gave Quartararo pole. Despite missing the front of the grid, Marquez will still be the strong favourite to take the race win.

However, Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati) will have something to say about that. The Italian has shown good pace in a variety of conditions through the weekend, and has put himself in a good position to try and attack tomorrow. From fourth on the grid, his ‘holeshot device’ could be quite useful tomorrow afternoon.

Joining Dovizioso on row two tomorrow will be Maverick Vinales, who perhaps benefited from the cloud coverage but nonetheless made a better qualification than he perhaps thought possible yesterday, and 2018 Jerez pole sitter, Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda CASTROL).

Danilo Petrucci (Mission Winnow Ducati) went three tenths slower than his FP3 time – which at the time was an all-time circuit record – before crashing after the chequered flag, and will start from seventh tomorrow. Takaaki

Nakagami (LCR Honda IDEMITSU) and Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) will join the factory Ducati rider on the third row. Both Petrucci and Rins will have aspirations of the podium tomorrow, so their opening laps will be important.

Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac Racing) qualified tenth for Sunday’s race, ahead of Jerez master Jorge Lorenzo (Repsol Honda Team) and fellow rookie Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) who was the slowest rider in Q2 and will start from twelfth tomorrow.

Valentino Rossi was the fastest rider not to make Q2, and so will have to come back from thirteenth tomorrow. If his championship contention – about which so many have spoken since Austin – is serious, the first laps tomorrow will be critical for the Italian, who starts from outside the front four rows for the second time this season. Team HRC’s wildcard, Stefan Bradl, and Pramac Racing’s Jack Miller, who crashed at the end of Q1, will join Rossi on row five.

The Espargaro brothers fill the front two thirds of the sixth row, with Aleix (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) ahead of Pol (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), whilst the latter’s teammate will start from eighteenth.

Bradley Smith, wildcarding for Aprilia Racing Team, rode despite being hurt form a nasty crash in FP2. He will start nineteenth, ahead of the Reale Avintia Racing duo of Tito Rabat and Karel Abraham who complete the seventh row.

The Red Bull KTM Tech3 pairing of Miguel Oliveira and Hafizh Syahrin were the two slowest riders in Q1 and will start from twenty-second and twenty-third tomorrow. Andrea Iannone (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) will start from last, depending on his fitness after an FP4 crash saw him taken to hospital. The Italian had a scan which revealed no broken bones.