Movistar Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales has grabbed pole position for tomorrow’s Misano MotoGP, nicking top spot with a 1’32.439 on his last lap while reigning champion Marc Marquez crashed at turn 13 while following his fellow Spaniard.
The pair were on pole position standard laps with Marquez just yards behind Vinales but the Repsol Honda man just asked too much from his front Michelin and went down, leaving Vinales to deny Andrea Dovizioso his first pole of the season, going less than two-tenths faster.
Despite the tip off, Marquez was still able to claim a front-row start with his 1’32.636 with Britain’s Cal Crutchlow one place further back on a 1’32.768. Jorge Lorenzo put the second of three works Ducatis in fifth with Johann Zarco completing the second row.
Dani Pedrosa was at the top of the tree with six minutes left to run but the RepsolHonda man was unable to improve on a 1’32.992 and tops row three on the RC213V. Danilo Petrucci, Aleix Espargaro and Alvaro Bautista, who came through from Q1, complete the top ten. Michele Pirro and Karel Abraham who was granted a Q2 spot after laps from Hector Barbera and Jack Miller were disqualified for exceeding rack limits.
The two will start from 13th and 14th with Loris Baz in 15th place. Jonas Folger, who was leading Q1 until the absolute death, is 16th. Britain’s Scott Redding will start from 18th, Bradley Smith 22nd and after an early Q1 crash, Sam Lowes is 23rd.
