Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez snatched MotoGP pole position out from under the nose of fellow HRC rider Alvaro Bautista with his last lap of qualifying at Qatar this evening riding with a still-broken leg.
But the fastest man of the weekend so far, Aleix Espargaro, crashed twice in the session and will start tomorrow’s grand prix in ninth place. He lost the front on the brakes early on but was on pole schedule when he crashed again pushing too hard through the final sector.
The reigning world champion banged in a 1’54.507 on his seventh lap to demote the Go&Fun Gresini Honda man while Britain’s Bradley Smith will start third in the desert tomorrow and is only a tenth slower than Marquez to bag his first ever front-row start.
Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso also stuck in a fast lap at the session end to take fourth place and is one ahead of Jorge Lorenzo who has found a setup quick enough to be less than two tenths behind Marquez after struggling all weekend.
Dani Pedrosa finished down in sixth place but only two tenths covers the top six. He is ahead of Stefan Bradl while Cal Crutchlow leapt up to eighth place after only just squeezing into qualifying two following a late challenge by Nicky Hayden that nearly kept him out of the second session.
Valentino Rossi couldn’t find any extra pace and will start from the fourth row. He will have Andrea Iannone and Pol Espargaro for company. Scott Redding ended the session in 16th while Michael Laverty is down in 23rd.
