Submitted by Mike Lewis on
Marc Marquez continued to top the practice timesheet but the gap closed considerably Saturday at the Termas de Rio Hondo circuit in Argentina. Jorge Lorenzo, languishing in 14th in Friday's final practice, found his pace as the racing line improved and the threat of rain remained only a threat.
Lorenzo, who set his fast time with three minutes left in the session, finished only two-hundredths of a second behind Marquez. Andrea Iannone, another rider who struggled in FP2, climbed into third as all of the top eight riders dropped into the 1'40s. Hector Barbera suprised the field with a blistering final lap to jump into fourth, just in front of Maverick Vinales (5th).
Dani Pedrosa, who held a top-three spot for much of the session, was unable to improve much on his early pace and dropped into sixth. Aleix Espargaro, who had crashing problems Friday, held on for seventh -- only three-hundredths in front of Cal Crutchlow (8th).
Andrea Dovizioso (9th) and Valentino Rossi (10th) grabbed the final two slots that allow them to bypass Q1 and head straight into Q2.
Results:
Riders in bold advance directly to Q2.
| Pos. | No. | Rider | Bike | Time | Diff. / Prev. | |
| 1 | 93 | Marc MARQUEZ | Honda | 1'40.368 | ||
| 2 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | Yamaha | 1'40.392 | 0.024 / 0.024 | |
| 3 | 29 | Andrea IANNONE | Ducati | 1'40.741 | 0.373 / 0.349 | |
| 4 | 8 | Hector BARBERA | Ducati | 1'40.766 | 0.398 / 0.025 | |
| 5 | 25 | Maverick VIÑALES | Suzuki | 1'40.796 | 0.428 / 0.030 | |
| 6 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | Honda | 1'40.807 | 0.439 / 0.011 | |
| 7 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARO | Suzuki | 1'40.893 | 0.525 / 0.086 | |
| 8 | 35 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | Honda | 1'40.929 | 0.561 / 0.036 | |
| 9 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Ducati | 1'41.040 | 0.672 / 0.111 | |
| 10 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | 1'41.101 | 0.733 / 0.061 | |
| 11 | 43 | Jack MILLER | Honda | 1'41.145 | 0.777 / 0.044 | |
| 12 | 44 | Pol ESPARGARO | Yamaha | 1'41.171 | 0.803 / 0.026 | |
| 13 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | Yamaha | 1'41.246 | 0.878 / 0.075 | |
| 14 | 76 | Loris BAZ | Ducati | 1'41.359 | 0.991 / 0.113 | |
| 15 | 51 | Michele PIRRO | Ducati | 1'41.379 | 1.011 / 0.020 | |
| 16 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Aprilia | 1'41.679 | 1.311 / 0.300 | |
| 17 | 45 | Scott REDDING | Ducati | 1'41.726 | 1.358 / 0.047 | |
| 18 | 53 | Tito RABAT | Honda | 1'41.798 | 1.430 / 0.072 | |
| 19 | 6 | Stefan BRADL | Aprilia | 1'41.909 | 1.541 / 0.111 | |
| 20 | 68 | Yonny HERNANDEZ | Ducati | 1'41.924 | 1.556 / 0.015 | |
| 21 | 50 | Eugene LAVERTY | Ducati | 1'42.106 | 1.738 / 0.182 | |
Comments
Heh
And here we are again. Fast people are fast. Who knew?
qualifying...
"How competitive is MotoGP this year? Getting into Q2 is now properly hard."
As it should be! MotoGP is the pinnacle of motorcycle road racing and should bring out the best in every rider, as it appears with Hector Barbera today!
Two Suzukis, two Yamahas,
Two Suzukis, two Yamahas, three Hondas and three Ducatis. That is amazing! And the fact that all of them except for Cal and Hector, are on factory bikes isn't.