Larry Lawrence | March 19, 2016
Photo courtesy MotoGP.com
Jorge Lorenzo put his name in the record books by being the first rider in the new Michelin tire era to earn a MotoGP pole. The defending world champ set his time early in the Q2 session and no one was able to better it. Lorenzo set the early pace in the first half of Q2 with a 1:54.543. He ruined a chance to better his time late in the session when he suffered a big moment, the bike getting way out of shape. Fortunately, his earlier time was strong enough to hold pole.
Lorenzo’s lap of 1:53.927 from 2008 remains the fastest time ever around the circuit on a motorcycle.
It marked Lorenzo’s 62nd-career pole. That puts him number one all time.
“I’m very glad to start the championship in this way with the pole position,” Lorenzo said. “It doesn’t mean tomorrow will be the same, but at least we are well in front. I’m certainly glad to be the one with the most pole positions in history. This is easy to say, but very hard to get after so many years at the highest level of competition. It was difficult. I had a big moment with the second tire. It looks like the tire was not warm enough and it didn’t give me the same confidence and the same grip. So I tried to enter too fast into the corner and I lose the rear. Luckily with the first time, with the first tire, I could keep the pole position. It’s good to start there and we will celebrate this achievement.”
Honda’s Marc Marquez qualified second with a time of 1:54.634. Marquez felt he might have scored the pole. He was hoping to eke out one more fast lap, but he just missed getting to the finish line before the checkered flag flew.
Maverick Viñales put the factory Suzuki on the outside of row one with a brilliant last lap time of 1:54.638, putting three different makers on the first row.
Row two is an all-Italian affair, with Andrea Iannone starting fourth, alongside Valentino Rossi and Andrea Dovizioso.
Iannone likely would have earned a front-row start, but he caught Scott Redding mid-corner on his flying lap, which slowed Iannone just enough to knock him off the front row.
Of note, Marquez unusually ran off the track on doing his practice start after the session was over. He remained on two wheels, but ran the factory Honda through the gravel trap.
In addition to qualifying, perhaps the biggest story of the day was the news that Rossi has re-signed with Yamaha through 2018. He will be 39 at that point, so it may in fact be his final contract in MotoGP.
There was some controversy involving Rossi in FP4 at Qatar. He came upon teammate Lorenzo who was going slowly on the race line. Rossi went by Lorenzo and then checked up, turned around and began gesturing at Lorenzo. The two continued to argue as they pulled up to do their practice starts.
Octo Pramac Yakhnich’s Danilo Petrucci withdrew from the GP after finding his right hand, injured in testing last month in Australia, was still too tender to hold up under the strain of riding.
Jack Miller, Loris Baz, Stefan Bradl and Scott Redding were among the faller in practice. Aleix Espargaro pitched his Suzuki away in Q1, but got back out on the track with his backup machine with four minutes to go. Alvaro Bautista also fell late in the Q1 session on the factory Aprilia.
It was Cal Crutchlow and Bradley Smith making it through from Q1 to the final Q2 session.
The race on Sunday start at 2:00pm Eastern and will be televised live on Bein Sports.
MotoGP qualifying from the Losail Circuit in Qatar, March 19, 2016
1 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 333.1 1’54.543
2 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 330.1 1’54.634 0.091 / 0.091
3 25 Maverick VIÑALES SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 333.8 1’54.638 0.095 / 0.004
4 29 Andrea IANNONE ITA Ducati Team Ducati 349.7 1’54.693 0.150 / 0.055
5 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 334.0 1’54.815 0.272 / 0.122
6 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 344.0 1’54.963 0.420 / 0.148
7 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 334.9 1’55.078 0.535 / 0.115
8 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Avintia Racing Ducati 337.9 1’55.165 0.622 / 0.087
9 44 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 337.5 1’55.302 0.759 / 0.137
10 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR LCR Honda Honda 334.4 1’55.352 0.809 / 0.050
11 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 332.5 1’55.414 0.871 / 0.062
12 45 Scott REDDING GBR OCTO Pramac Yakhnich Ducati 336.6 1’55.508 0.965 / 0.094
13 68 Yonny HERNANDEZ COL Aspar Team MotoGP Ducati 331.5 1’56.157 0.866 / 0.667
14 50 Eugene LAVERTY IRL Aspar Team MotoGP Ducati 336.1 1’56.186 0.895 / 0.029
15 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 326.0 1’56.238 0.947 / 0.052
16 76 Loris BAZ FRA Avintia Racing Ducati 328.3 1’56.375 1.084 / 0.137
17 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 328.3 1’56.595 1.304 / 0.220
18 43 Jack MILLER AUS Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 331.3 1’56.620 1.329 / 0.025
19 53 Tito RABAT SPA Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 331.5 1’57.108 1.817 / 0.488
20 6 Stefan BRADL GER Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 325.1 1’57.216 1.925 / 0.108
