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.
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.
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
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2017 Austin MotoGP Qualifying Results | Photo Gallery
