2017 Austin MotoGP Qualifying Results: Marquez Claims 5 of 5 Poles

2017 Austin MotoGP Qualifying Results

Once question loomed heavily ahead of 2017 Austin MotoGP qualifying at Circuit of the Americas: Can Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez achieve a perfect five of five poles?

This question was quickly answered Saturday during the second 15-minute qualifying sessions; the reigning three-time MotoGP Champion wasted no time, and immediately got up to speed.

Marquez, who led two of four free practice sessions, earned the top qualifying spot with a 2:02.741 around the 20-corner COTA circuit. Joining Marquez, who crashed at turn 18 during FP4, on the front row ahead of Sunday’s 21-lap Grand Prix of the Americas are the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP duo of Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi, respectively.

2017 Austin MotoGP Qualifying Results: Honda's Marquez takes pole — 2017 Austin MotoGP Qualifying Results: Honda’s Marc Marquez

When Q2 began, Marquez immediately took the lead, and it became a shootout between him and Vinales, who led all free practices and won the opening rounds at Qatar and Argentina. Vinales took the top time on his final lap, a 2:02.871, but Marquez pushed hard to claim his fifth-straight pole in Texas by a mere 0.130 of a second.

On his final qualifying lap, Rossi dropped Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa from third, claiming the final front-row position with a 2:03.673, The nine-time World Champion finished 0.932 of a second behind Marquez, and 0.193 ahead of Pedrosa.

Joining Pedrosa on row two for Sunday’s GP are Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Johann Zarco and Ducati Team’s Jorge Lorenzo; the five-time World Champion Lorenzo was 1.410 seconds off the pace.

2017 Austin MotoGP Qualifying Results: Yamaha's Vinales takes second — 2017 Austin MotoGP Qualifying Results: Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales

Rounding out the top 10 in 2017 Austin MotoGP Qualifying were Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso (-1.690), Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Jonas Folger (-1.882), LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow (-1.920) and Octo Pramac Racing Ducati’s Scott Redding (-1.932).

These top 10 were the only riders to qualify within two seconds of Marquez; Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Andrea Iannone qualified 11th, 3 seconds off the pace, and Marc VDS Honda’s Jack Miller 12th, 3.229 seconds behind.

Crashing out first during Q2 was Miller, who made it to Q2 after leading Q1. Second to crash out was Iannone. Crutchlow also suffered a second crash during Q2 at turn 11, his second of the season.

The showdown between Marquez and Vinales continues tomorrow at 3 p.m. local time for round three of 18.

Can Marquez make it five in a row on US soil?

Photos by Ara Ashjian

2017 Austin MotoGP Qualifying Results

Pos.	Rider	Num	Nation	Team	Time/Gap
1	MARQUEZ Marc	93	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	2’02.741
2	VINALES Maverick	25	SPA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	2’02.871
3	ROSSI Valentino	46	ITA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	2’03.673
4	PEDROSA Dani	26	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	2’03.866
5	ZARCO Johann	5	FRA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	2’03.928
6	LORENZO Jorge	99	SPA	Ducati Team	2’04.151
7	DOVIZIOSO Andrea	4	ITA	Ducati Team	2’04.431
8	FOLGER Jonas	94	GER	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	2’04.623
9	CRUTCHLOW Cal	35	GBR	LCR Honda	2’04.661
10	REDDING Scott	45	GBR	Octo Pramac Racing	2’04.673
11	IANNONE Andrea	29	ITA	Team Suzuki Ecstar	2’05.741
12	MILLER Jack	43	AUS	Team EG 0,0 Marc VDS	2’05.970
13	PETRUCCI Danilo	9	ITA	Octo Pramac Racing	2’05.221 (Q1)
14	BAZ Loris	76	FRA	Reale Avintia Racing	2’05.231 (Q1)
15	BARBERA Hector	8	SPA	Reale Avintia Racing	2’05.541 (Q1)
16	RABAT Tito	53	SPA	Team EG 0,0 Marc VDS	2’05.920 (Q1)
17	ABRAHAM Karel	17	CZE	Pull&Bear Aspar Team	2’05.931 (Q1)
18	SMITH Bradley	38	GBR	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	2’06.258 (Q1)
19	BAUTISTA Alvaro	19	SPA	Pull&Bear Aspar Team	2’06.295 (Q1)
20	LOWES Sam	22	GBR	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	2’07.232 (Q1)
21	ESPARGARO Pol	44	SPA	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	2’07.601 (Q1)
22	ESPARGARO Aleix	41	SPA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	2’05.468 (FP2)

2017 Austin MotoGP Qualifying Results: Marquez Claims 5 of 5 Poles