Valentino RossiThree weeks ago at Motorland Aragon, Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez earned his 64th pole, tying him with Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Jorge Lorenzo for the record of Grand Prix motorcycle racing poles.But following qualifying Saturday for 15 of 18 at the Twin Ring Motegi in Japan, there are now three riders tied for record GP poles. This was after the other factory Yamaha YZR-M1 pilot, nine-time World Champion Valentino Rossi, claimed the pole for Sunday’s 24-lap Japan Grand Prix.
[Visit the Ultimate Motorcycling MotoGP Page]For the first time on Michelin tires at Motegi, Rossi posted a best lap of 1:43.954 around the 2.98-mile circuit containing 14 corners. Joining VR46 on the front row are Marquez, who finished 0.180 of a second back, and Lorenzo, who finished 0.267 behind. Lorenzo impressed considering he suffered a huge crash during the third free practice. Heading into the first of three back-to-back rounds, Marquez has a 52-point lead over Rossi.“It’s my third pole position of the year. I’m very happy because this year in qualifying I’m strong,” Rossi says. “We were struggling during this weekend to find the right balance and I’m also not a 100% fit, I’m suffering physically, I’m not feeling fantastic.Honda’s Marc Marquez“In FP4 we improved the balance of the bike a lot and I did a very good lap and great braking in turn 11 and that was good. Starting from pole is always important and now we wait for tomorrow.”Qualifying on top of row two was Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso, who claimed the pole at Motegi in 2014. The Italian Desmosedici GP16 pilot was followed by Brno winner Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) and Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Aleix Espargaro.Rounding out the top 10 in qualifying are Aleix’s teammate Maverick Vinales, Ducati Team’s Hector Barbera (riding in place of the injured Andrea Iannone), Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Pol Espargaro and OCTO Pramac Yakhnich Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci.The GP of Japan gets underway at 2 p.m. local time as Marquez looks to garner some strength for a possible third title.Photos by Luciano Bianchetto
2016 Motegi MotoGP Qualifying Results
Pos.
Rider
Manufacturer
Nationality
Time
1
Valentino Rossi
Yamaha
ITA
01’43.954
2
Marc Marquez
Honda
ESP
01’44.134
3
Jorge Lorenzo
Yamaha
ESP
01’44.221
4
Andrea Dovizioso
Ducati
ITA
01’44.294
5
Cal Crutchlow
Honda
GBR
01’44.402
6
Aleix Espargaro
Suzuki
ESP
01’44.494
7
Maverick Viñales
Suzuki
ESP
01’44.539
8
Hector Barbera
Ducati
ESP
01’44.980
9
Pol Espargaro
Yamaha
ESP
01’45.232
10
Danilo Petrucci
Ducati
ITA
01’45.782
11
Scott Redding
Ducati
GBR
01’45.827
12
Alvaro Bautista
Aprilia
ESP
01’45.614
13
Stefan Bradl
Aprilia
DEU
01’45.823
14
Jack Miller
Honda
AUS
01’46.347
15
Bradley Smith
Yamaha
GBR
01’46.593
16
Katsuyuki Nakasuga
Yamaha
JPN
01’46.627
17
Yonny Hernandez
Ducati
COL
01’46.705
18
Tito Rabat
Honda
ESP
01’46.753
19
Eugene Laverty
Ducati
GBR
01’47.060
20
Loris Baz
Ducati
FRA
01’47.501
21
Mike Jones
Ducati
AUS
01’47.631
22
Hiroshi Aoyama
Honda
JPN
01’47.788
2016 Motegi MotoGP Qualifying Results | Photo Gallery
Hello everyone and welcome once again to Motos and Friends, the weekly podcast brought to you by Ultimate Motorcycling. My name is Arthur Coldwells.
Motos and Friends is brought to you by Yamaha. You can check out the amazing YZF-R7 at your local Yamaha dealer, or of course at YamahaMotorsports.com. The YZF-R7 is an amazing supersport machine that is comfortable too!
In this week’s first segment, Editor Don Williams takes the smallest BMW ADV bike on an urban adventure in Los Angeles. The BMW G 310 GS is a full size motorcycle with a modest engine, so of course we wonder if it is a little too underpowered and might struggle. Don put it through its paces and gives us his take.
In the second segment, Neale Bayly and Kiran Ridley have returned from the Ukraine to Paris where Kiran is based.
Kiran is an award winning photojournalist, and as an accomplished documentarian, he has covered stories as diverse as drug smuggling around the Mexican border, to the devastation of the Australian Bush Fires, to the tragedy of the Mediterranean migration crisis. Neale and Kiran reminisce about their motorcycle adventure in the Ukraine, and their observations and experiences with the incredibly resilient people of Ukraine, who have been put through such brutal hardship.