Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez has set a brand new MotoGP outright lap record on his way to pole position at Brno this afternoon and had to pass both Valentino Rossi and Pol Espargaro in the last corner in order to do it.
Marquez bettered the lap set by Jorge Lorenzo in free practice three this morning with a 1’54.596 and it was enough to depose the Spaniard from the top of the tree after the Movistar Yamaha man had set a 1’54.849 with his final run and it brings the pair to 63 poles each while Valentino Rossi is also on that same number.
Andrea Iannone took the final front row spot with his last lap of 1’55.227 which pushed Aleix Espargaro to the head of row two. Hector Barbera got a tow from Marquez to bag fifth place, one ahead of Rossi, who ends his day in sixth place and a little less than a second off the pace after changing from the medium to the soft front for his last run.
Andrea Dovizioso had a difficult session, coming in after one lap to change from a new medium front to a used medium, and then only did an out lap before coming in again, leaving himself only one run to achieve his 1’55.748 for seventh place.
Maverick Vinales was forced into his garage with loose front brake lines so had to settle for eighth place on his third lap of six before retiring from the session while Dani Pedrosa finished on a 1’55.841 after coming through qualifying one but didn’t match the 1’55.793 he set to make it out of Q1.
Cal Crutchlow had to use his second bike after crashing right at the end of free practice four, ending the day in tenth place, one ahead of Bradley Smith who also came through from qualifying one. Monster Yamaha team-mate Pol Espargaro also tipped off in FP4 and ended the day in 12th place.
Danilo Petrucci qualified in 13th place but drops three grid places after nerfing Eugene Laverty off on the last lap of the Red Bull Ring race so starts in 16th. This promotes Laverty to 14th and Scott Redding to 15th place.
Outstanding lap from @marcmarquez93
All the more impressive considering the final sector #VR46 overtake!#CzechGP https://t.co/np7AkCie4t— MotoGP™ (@MotoGP) 20 August 2016