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It was supposed to be like a symphony. Starting low and slow, watching the notes, before the composition finally hit the crescendo. Instead, Aleix Esparagaro hit the gravel. Twice. |
The NGM Forward Racing rider had been the toast of MotoGP with some chart-topping performances on his ‘Open’ Yamaha throughout the pre-season testing and also the practice sessions for the Commercial Bank Grand Prix of Qatar at the Losail International Circuit. Yesterday’s qualifying, however, was disastrous for the Spaniard, having wrecked two bikes in a matter of five minutes.
His four-lap stint could only produce a 1:54.986 lap, which fetched him a ninth place start in today’s race.
With a lap 0.479 seconds faster than Aleix’s, defending world champion Marc Marquez, nursing a fractured leg from six weeks ago, will start his career’s first title defence on pole.
Marquez had not been able to walk till last week due to the injury he picked while dirt-biking in the off-season and had very limited amount of time on his Honda. The 21-year-old brushed all of that aside to beat Alvaro Bautista of Go&Fun Honda Gresini by a tiny 0.057 seconds in the final few moments of the qualifying for the 10th pole of his MotoGP career.
Having done short stints on the bike throughout the weekend, Marquez expects the race to be tougher on his body. “I am very happy with the pole position, especially after being injured. Was difficult in the practice sessions, but we got it all together for the qualifying. I was feeling good on the bike,” he said after the qualifying yesterday.
“Tomorrow will be important. It will be hard for me because when I do a lot of laps, I will get very tired because I can’t be pushing much with my leg. But I will be trying to do my best and get some points,” he added.
Bautista, whose best MotoGP performance at Losail was a sixth-place finish last year, said: “For me it is like pole position, because this is a track I haven’t done really well in the past. I am feeling good on the bike.”
Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Bradley Smith will complete the front row today after he posted a 1:54.601 lap in yesterday’s qualifying.
Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso matched his 2013 Qatar GP qualifying performance with the fourth fastest time of 1:54.644.
Marc Marquez (centre) flanked by Alvaro Bautista (left)
and Bradley Smith pose after qualifying first, second and third
respectively for the Commercial Bank Grand Prix of Qatar at the
Losail Circuit yesterday.
Last year’s Qatar winner Jorge Lorenzo will start fifth ahead of Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa and LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl.
The second Ducati, that of Cal Crutchlow, will be on the third row with Espargaro.
Movistar Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi completed the top ten.
The other Espargaro on the MotoGP grid, Pol of Monster Yamaha Tech 3, will start 12th behind Pramac Racing’s Andrea Iannone.
Spaniard Esteve Rabat powered his way to pole with an impressive 2:00.081 in Moto2 qualifying earlier yesterday.
Rabat, who finished third in the Moto2 standings last year behind Pol Espargaro and Scott Redding, will be on the front row with Sandro Cortese of Dynavolt Intact GP and Takaaki Nakagami of Idemitsu Honda Asia.
Both Espargaro and Redding moved up to the MotoGP class this year.
Cortese suffered a crash in the final moments of the qualifying which in turn caused a more spectacular crash for Mika Kallio of Marc VDS Racing Team. Cortese’s Kalex slid its way around the track without the German and Kallio couldn’t dodge it, hitting it. It later emerged that Cortese suffered a left foot fracture and will be re-examined today before the race.
After a qualifying session where only one second separated the top 15, QMMF Racing Team’s Anthony West will start today’s race on the ninth row with a 2:01.732 lap. West had said earlier in the weekend that the Speed Up bike was having a few grip issues.
His full-time team-mate for the season and 2013 Spanish CEV Championship winner Roman Ramos will start 31st, while the wild card rider Qatar’s Mashel al-Naimi will start 33rd, ahead of Japan’s Tetsuta Nagashima and Switzerland’s Robin Mulhauser.
In Moto3, both Estrella Galicia 0,0 Hondas will be on the front row for today’s race after Alex Rins and Alex Marquez were on top of the timecharts yesterday.
While Rins, who finished third in Qatar last year, was fastest with a lap of 2:05.973, Marquez was 0.152 seconds behind his team-mate.
Australian Jack Miller, riding a Red Bull KTM, will complete the front row after posting a time of 2:06.365.
Last year’s top two Moto3 finishers Luis Salom and Maverick Vinales moved up to Moto2 this year and will start 17th and 14th respectively.
Valentino Rossi’s SKY Racing VR46 Moto3 riders, Romano Fenati and Francesco Bagnaia, will start eighth and tenth respectively.
All eyes on the race now.