Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez2014 Brno MotoGP QualifyingMarc Marquez’s dominance in 2014 MotoGP continued Saturday during qualifying at Brno for the Czech Grand Prix.
The Repsol Honda RC213V pilot, who won the opening 10 rounds, earned his ninth pole of the season at the technical Brno circuit with a 1:55.585 lap time around the 3.357-mile circuit containing 12 corners. He also topped Friday’s practice sessions, which were plagued by rain.Though impressive, Marquez’s pole time was 0.058 of a second slower than the Best Pole record set last season by Cal Crutchlow while on the Monster Tech Yamaha YZR-M1.Joining Marquez on the front row for Sunday’s 22-lap race that will take riders nearly 74 miles are Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso and Pramac Racing Ducati’s Andrea Iannone, who will join Dovi on the factory team in 2015.The second-place start matched Dovizioso’s qualifying performance at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last week. This was also Iannone’s second front-row start of 2014 (Mugello).Heading up the second row is Monster Yamaha Tech3’s Bradley Smith, who just extended his contract with the team through 2015. The Brit will be joined by Marquez’s teammate, Dani Pedrosa, and Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Jorge Lorenzo.Though he suffered a high-speed crash in FP4, and injured the little finger on his clutch hand, nine-time World Champion Valentino Rossi qualified his Movistar Yamaha MotoGP YZR-M1 seventh. Rossi begins his 245th premier-class race Sunday, and will now equal the record for most premier-class starts with Alex Barros.Joining Rossi on the third row is LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl and Monster Yamaha Tech3’s Pol Espargaro.The fourth row consists of the top open-class rider so far this season, NGM Forward Racing’s Aleix Espargaro, Ducati Team’s Cal Crutchlow and Energy T.I. Pramac Racing’s Yonny Hernandex.The riders return to Brno Sunday morning for the 11th round of 2014 MotoGP. Fox Sports 1 will broadcast the race live with coverage beginning at 7 a.m. ET Sunday, Aug. 17.2014 Brno MotoGP Qualifying Results:
