Crutchlow Captures 2nd-Career MotoGP Pole at Brno

For the second time of his MotoGP career, Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Cal Crutchlow captured the pole.

The Brit, who will join the Ducati Team next season, put in a blistering quick performance aboard his YZR-M1, which had an updated gas tank that Crutchlow complained about.

Crtuchlow, who also took the pole at Assen, posted a 1:55.527 around the 3.34-mile circuit, the time becoming a new track record, beating Jorge Lorenzo’s record pole of 2012. Joining Crutchlow will be GO&FUN Honda Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista and the current MotoGP points leader, Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez.

Rounding out the top five was Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa and Yamaha Factory Racing’s Lorenzo.

During qualifying, it looked as if Bautista would have grabbed the pole after riding in Marquez’s slipstream to beat Lorenzo’s 2012 record. But following a stop in the pits, Crutchlow was able to beat Bautista’s time by two tenths of a secon.

With Bautista on the front row for the second time in three races, the winner of the last three Grands Prix – Marquez crucially starts ahead of his closest two title contenders, with teammate and last year’s Brno winner Pedrosa only five thousandths of a second in arrears and Lorenzo a further 81 thousandths behind.

The reigning World Champion expected more, though, not least after testing at Brno in the mid-season break as well as beginning the weekend as fastest rider.

Tech3’s Bradley Smith equaled his qualifying best by beating the second Yamaha Factory Racing rider Valentino Rossi to sixth place, as LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl and Ducati Team duo Andrea Dovizioso and Nicky Hayden completed the first group of ten. Energy T.I. Pramac Racing’s Andrea Iannone made it to the shootout for 11th place – despite a collision with an air fence early in Q1 – whereas NGM Mobile Forward Racing’s Colin Edwards was encouraged to feature in Q2 for the second time within the space of a week, equipped with the standard MotoGP ECU software package.

This left usual CRT pace-setter Aleix Espargaro third in Q1 and therefore 13th on the grid, hindered by a crash in fourth free practice which immediately preceded the qualifying session.

Returning to action to cover for the injured Ben Spies at Ignite Pramac Racing, Michele Pirro will line up 14th, as wildcard Martin Bauer backs up the grid in 25th position on an S&B Suter. Incidentally, Bauer’s Remus Racing Team makes history this weekend by becoming the first Austrian-entered outfit to compete in the premier class of Grand Prix racing.

The 25-rider grid will return to the Brno circuit Sunday for the Czech Republic Grand Prix at 1 p.m. local time.

2013 Brno MotoGP Qualifying Results:
1 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 307.1 1’55.527
2 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA GO&FUN Honda Gresini Honda 311.7 1’55.754 0.227 / 0.227
3 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 313.6 1’55.863 0.336 / 0.109
4 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 314.8 1’55.868 0.341 / 0.005
5 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 309.4 1’55.949 0.422 / 0.081
6 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 308.8 1’56.014 0.487 / 0.065
7 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 307.9 1’56.186 0.659 / 0.172
8 6 Stefan BRADL GER LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 312.4 1’56.477 0.950 / 0.291
9 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 307.0 1’56.825 1.298 / 0.348
10 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team Ducati 308.4 1’56.979 1.452 / 0.154
11 29 Andrea IANNONE ITA Energy T.I. Pramac Racing Ducati 307.6 1’57.455 1.928 / 0.476
12 5 Colin EDWARDS USA NGM Mobile Forward Racing FTR Kawasaki 296.0 1’58.392 2.865 / 0.937
13 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Power Electronics Aspar ART 292.9 1’58.378 0.244 / 0.209
14 51 Michele PIRRO ITA Ignite Pramac Racing Ducati 306.9 1’58.812 0.678 / 0.434
15 14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA Power Electronics Aspar ART 294.7 1’58.953 0.819 / 0.141
16 68 Yonny HERNANDEZ COL Paul Bird Motorsport ART 293.0 1’58.983 0.849 / 0.030
17 9 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA Came IodaRacing Project Ioda-Suter 293.9 1’59.057 0.923 / 0.074
18 71 Claudio CORTI ITA NGM Mobile Forward Racing FTR Kawasaki 295.2 1’59.062 0.928 / 0.005
19 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Avintia Blusens FTR 295.7 1’59.128 0.994 / 0.066
20 52 Lukas PESEK CZE Came IodaRacing Project Ioda-Suter 289.2 2’00.522 2.388 / 1.394
21 70 Michael LAVERTY GBR Paul Bird Motorsport PBM 298.7 2’00.584 2.450 / 0.062
22 7 Hiroshi AOYAMA JPN Avintia Blusens FTR 295.4 2’00.653 2.519 / 0.069
23 17 Karel ABRAHAM CZE Cardion AB Motoracing ART 293.0 2’00.792 2.658 / 0.139
24 67 Bryan STARING AUS GO&FUN Honda Gresini FTR Honda 291.8 2’00.827 2.693 / 0.035
25 45 Martin BAUER AUT Remus Racing Team S&B Suter 284.7 2’01.135 3.001 / 0.308