Submitted by Jacob Leech on
Full Recap and Results Below.
Valentino Rossi has taken his 50th premier class pole position, the 60th of his Grand Prix career following MotoGP qualifying at the final round of the season in Valencia. The Italian admitted himself it was a surprise result as he went on to deny his good friend Andrea Iannone of his maiden pole, pipping the Ducati rider with his final lap of the session and snatching the ultimate grid spot by a tenth of a second. Iannone couldn't be too disappointed however considering he missed the previous race at Sepang due to injuries sustained following crashes at Phillip Island and during practice in Malaysia.
Dani Pedrosa put in a late dash to take third place and rounds out the front row, he also finishes as the highest placed local rider. Fellow Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo will head up the second row ending two tenths behind his team mate Rossi, he will line up along side Marc Marquez and Pol Espargaro. Marquez crashed at turn four with two minutes remaining in the session, he lost the front pushing hard after going quickest through the opening sector of the circuit and was unable to take any further part in proceedings.
Bradley Smith finished two hundredths behind his Tech 3 team mate Espargaro and heads up row three, he managed to finish ahead of the factory Ducati pairing of Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso. German rider Stefan Bradl completed the top ten after he went comfortably through the anticlimactic Q1 session prior.
Q2 Results:
| Pos. | Num. | Rider | Bike | Time | Diff | Diff Prev |
| 1 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | 1'30.843 | ||
| 2 | 29 | Andrea IANNONE | Ducati | 1'30.975 | 0.132 | 0.132 |
| 3 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | Honda | 1'30.999 | 0.156 | 0.024 |
| 4 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | Yamaha | 1'31.049 | 0.206 | 0.050 |
| 5 | 93 | Marc MARQUEZ | Honda | 1'31.144 | 0.301 | 0.095 |
| 6 | 44 | Pol ESPARGARO | Yamaha | 1'31.307 | 0.464 | 0.163 |
| 7 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | Yamaha | 1'31.324 | 0.481 | 0.017 |
| 8 | 35 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | Ducati | 1'31.359 | 0.516 | 0.035 |
| 9 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Ducati | 1'31.426 | 0.583 | 0.067 |
| 10 | 6 | Stefan BRADL | Honda | 1'31.443 | 0.600 | 0.017 |
| 11 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARO | Forward Yamaha | 1'31.486 | 0.643 | 0.043 |
| 12 | 51 | Michele PIRRO | Ducati | 1'32.617 | 1.774 | 1.131 |
Q1 Results:
| Pos. | Num. | Rider | Bike | Time | Diff | Diff Prev |
| Q2 | 6 | Stefan BRADL | Honda | 1'31.506 | ||
| Q2 | 51 | Michele PIRRO | Ducati | 1'31.984 | 0.478 | 0.478 |
| 13 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Honda | 1'32.160 | 0.654 | 0.176 |
| 14 | 45 | Scott REDDING | Honda | 1'32.315 | 0.809 | 0.155 |
| 15 | 68 | Yonny HERNANDEZ | Ducati | 1'32.321 | 0.815 | 0.006 |
| 16 | 69 | Nicky HAYDEN | Honda | 1'32.395 | 0.889 | 0.074 |
| 17 | 8 | Hector BARBERA | Ducati | 1'32.443 | 0.937 | 0.048 |
| 18 | 7 | Hiroshi AOYAMA | Honda | 1'32.449 | 0.943 | 0.006 |
| 19 | 15 | Alex DE ANGELIS | Forward Yamaha | 1'32.453 | 0.947 | 0.004 |
| 20 | 14 | Randy DE PUNIET | Suzuki | 1'32.509 | 1.003 | 0.056 |
| 21 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | ART | 1'32.683 | 1.177 | 0.174 |
| 22 | 70 | Michael LAVERTY | PBM | 1'32.808 | 1.302 | 0.125 |
| 23 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | Honda | 1'33.019 | 1.513 | 0.211 |
| 24 | 23 | Broc PARKES | PBM | 1'33.972 | 2.466 | 0.953 |
| 25 | 63 | Mike DI MEGLIO | Avintia | 1'34.510 | 3.004 | 0.538 |
Comments
Unbelievable
Unbelievable - VR46 back on pole after a bad start on Friday and of the tracks he hates the most !
He always complains about Valencia track and now, 4.5 years after the last time, he is back in pole.
Definitely an achievement, regardless of what happens tomorrow.
The Old Man...
Just checked his record out at this track and he's 'only' won twice at this event, in 2003 and 2004. So if he does it tomorrow, it'll almost be ten years exactly since his last win there. That would be another great stat for him to finish the year off with, if can pull it off.
I think I'd stick my money on #93, though. Remember him winning after starting from pitlane in Moto2 that year? Starting from 5th tomorrow won't hold him back for more than a few laps.
Rossi
So happy to see Rossi on pole, picked the right wheel to follow around, now just has to keep 99 in sight or preferably stay in front him for the race. Though it will be hard, you can never count him out for the win...
Race for 2nd is the show
How does he (they, his garage) do it?! Wonderful. Don't get distracted by Marquez, this battle for 2nd is legendary. Great to follow! Go Vale!!
Smokes
I went to bed before seeing any saturday sessions... After Fridays results I was expecting maybe 5th/6th... Sure it was only 0.5seconds between a lot of the riders but pole...
Hopefully makes for an interesting Sunday for second place in the championships.
Wonder if the flurry of
Wonder if the flurry of activity on Lorenzo's bike with 5 minutes to go in Q2 upset his cool?
Also wonder if the wound on Galbusera's scalp will ever heal?