2015 Qatar MotoGP Qualifying Practice Result: Thrilling Qualifying Shakes Up Grid

By David Emmett | Sat, 28/03/2015 - 18:48

Results and summary of qualifying for the MotoGP class at Qatar:

Andrea Dovizioso has proved the worth of  the Ducati Desmosedici GP15 by taking pole position at the bike's first outing. Dovizioso waited until the very end of a hectic session to depose Dani Pedrosa from the top spot, putting the Repsol Honda man into 2nd, ahead of reigning world champion Marc Marquez, who rounds out the front row. 

The softer rear tire may have helped Dovizioso, but it did not work its magic for Andrea Iannone, the second factory Ducati rider coming up short and ending 4th on the grid. Iannone sits in front of another Ducati, the Pramac bike of Yonny Hernandez. Hernandez used a tow from Marquez and teammate Danilo Petrucci to catapult himself to 5th on the grid. Petrucci was not so lucky, getting too close to Marquez and losing time, ending in 9th.

Jorge Lorenzo is the first of the factory Yamahas, starting the race from 6th, and the last place on the second row. He sits ahead of two more Yamahas, Bradley Smith starting from 7th on the Monster Tech 3 satellite bike, and Valentino Rossi from 8th on the second Movistar Yamahas. Petrucci rounds out the third row, while the Espargaró  brothers head up the fourth row, Pol ahead of Aleix, and Cal Crutchlow down in 12th, after the LCR Honda man crashed during his second run on the bike.

Petrucci and Smith made it through to Q2 from Q1, after a thrilling battle which saw Scott Redding fall just shy of Q2. Redding starts from 14th.

Dovizioso's pole is the second for Ducati in five races, the Italian have started from pole at Motegi. Though the soft tire did not appear to offer the advantage which many feared, no doubt Dovizioso's pole will reignite the debate over Ducati having access to the softer rear. Until they win three races in the dry, however, it cannot be taken away from them.

Results:

Pos No Rider Bike Time Diff Prev
1 4 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati 1'54.113    
2 26 Dani Pedrosa Honda 1'54.330 0.217 0.217
3 93 Marc Marquez Honda 1'54.437 0.324 0.107
4 29 Andrea Iannone Ducati 1'54.521 0.408 0.084
5 68 Yonny Hernandez Ducati 1'54.675 0.562 0.154
6 99 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1'54.711 0.598 0.036
7 38 Bradley Smith Yamaha 1'54.732 0.619 0.021
8 46 Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1'54.851 0.738 0.119
9 9 Danilo Petrucci Ducati 1'54.876 0.763 0.025
10 44 Pol Espargaro Yamaha 1'55.004 0.891 0.128
11 41 Aleix Espargaro Suzuki 1'55.035 0.922 0.031
12 35 Cal Crutchlow Honda 1'55.123 1.010 0.088
Q1 Times
To Q2 9 Danilo Petrucci Ducati 1'55.094    
To Q2 38 Bradley Smith Yamaha 1'55.235 0.141 0.141
13 25 Maverick Viñales Suzuki 1'55.246 0.152 0.011
14 45 Scott Redding Honda 1'55.428 0.334 0.182
15 8 Hector Barbera Ducati 1'55.604 0.510 0.176
16 63 Mike Di Meglio Ducati 1'55.729 0.635 0.125
17 69 Nicky Hayden Honda 1'55.756 0.662 0.027
18 6 Stefan Bradl Yamaha Forward 1'55.791 0.697 0.035
19 50 Eugene Laverty Honda 1'55.848 0.754 0.057
20 17 Karel Abraham Honda 1'55.892 0.798 0.044
21 19 Alvaro Bautista Aprilia 1'56.187 1.093 0.295
22 43 Jack Miller Honda 1'56.287 1.193 0.100
23 76 Loris Baz Yamaha Forward 1'56.454 1.360 0.167
24 15 Alex De Angelis ART 1'56.793 1.699 0.339
25 33 Marco Melandri Aprilia 1'57.934 2.840 1.141

 

2015
1
MotoGP
Losail, Qatar
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Comments

Seems like tire management will definitely be a major factor in this race. I suspect there'll be some heavy traffic to start (never counting out a Marquez breakaway, of course) followed by some bunching up around lap 8 when lap times start to drop. Hopefully a good recipe for some daring overtaking.

Clearly the yamaha's are either facing grip issues or else having a hard time setting up the seamless gearbox in an appropriate way. Most shocking point is that jorge lorenzo is 5 kg lighter than last year, has a radically upgraded M1 from last year and still he couldn't beat his Q2 time from last year. And rossi though has improved from last year and all those talks of capturing a tenth title, he finds himself behind smith. What in the world is going on in that blue garage, apart from them God only knows. Still i find myself hoping that they find some last minute changes which could give them 2 or 3 tenths better pace in the race............

Rumour has it Rossi was quite happy with his race pace. He is still debating whether to use the harder tire, whereas Jorge was sounding like he was definitely going to use the softer option.

Loving the uncertainty of all this.. should be quite a race..

Congrats to... US, the true Motogp diehards, looks like we are finally going to have a great season!!

Kudos Yoni Hernandez the top AMERICAN

(Yes , Colombia is part of America, America is not only "United States" )

Latin hot blood and passion, 5th place ahead of the Yamaha Factory on an old Ducati that doesn't turn...

How come nobody even mention? >_<

But thats a soft tyre, one lap wonder. As soon as the red lights go out jorge will just flew past him in the launch only, no need to wait even for the first corner. And valentino will most probably in the first lap itself.......

Anyways to have your name on the top 5 where 2 others were using same soft tire as well....it's not bad on your resume...I believe Yoni has been doing a terrific job of manhandling that Ducati. Hector Barbera and Di Meglio are riding pretty much a similar machine and are way below in the list, and they're brand names in the GP arena.

not Redding as you indicated. Redding got pipped by Viñales and then Smith pipped Viñales. Viñales nearly made it into Q2. This was quite good from the rookie and he is only 2 spots away from his teammate. It is only a matter of time until he beats his teammate.

Yonni's passport is Colombian. Colombia as in South America. Please do not confuse South America with the United States of America. There is one American rider on the grid. His name is Nicky Hayden. He may not be relevant so far as the outcome of a race but he represents AMERICA. Yonni represents South America. Not one in the same.

"Please do not confuse South America with the United States of America. There is one American rider on the grid. His name is Nicky Hayden"

LMAO

By your own explanation then Nicky Hayden needs to be called "United Statestian"

Nicky doesn't represent "America" he represents "United States" or maybe "Kentucky"

America includes, North America, Central America and South America. Take a look at a world map :)

United States doesn't have the exclusive right to have the name "American" any more than a Colombian, Argentinian, a Canadian, or a Mexican.

I believe Stephan Bradl is an "European" as much as is Marc Marquez or Valentino Rossi or Karel Abraham, they're all "Europeans" and I don't see Cal Crutchlow stating he's the only "European" ;)

We United States Passport holders have a particularly funny view of our hemisphere.

I think for purposes of racing Yonni is Colombian just as a rider from Canada would be called a Canadian even though Canada is in North America. We don't say Yonni represents Medellin so we don't say Nicky represents Kentucky. Nicky represents the USA, America for short. Is that OK?

no, that's not ok.
You probably have a pasport from the united states of america. And you people refer to yourselfs as americans and in a way that is correct. It is as correct as saying Hernandez is an american. So if you feel annoyed that Yonny is called an american, everyone else has the right to feel annoyed that inhabitants of the usa claim all rights to the name "american". An american is someone who lives in america. only a part of america are the united states of america, there are other parts to you know.
There is North and South Korea. Inhabitants of both these countries are Korean's and that's fine and correct. You can specify by saying north korean or south korean. Same as one can specify by saying north american or south or central american.

that ^

Nicky is American.

Yoni is American.

"There is one American rider on the grid. His name is Nicky Hayden"

That ^ is not correct.

That said, I will be cheering to any of the Americans!!! :)

The confusion is due to the fact that, for people from the United States, "American" is the only adjective we have for things that have a national identity and we never, ever use the word to convey any kind of continental affinity. That's not even a thing for us.

As a result the word feels like it's specific to our nation, even if that's not the case, for all of the reasons stated. Until we adopt a replacement--"United Statesian" doesn't really roll off the tongue--it's just really not going to be possible to convince most Yanks to think of the word "American" as applying to anyone else.

A bit arrogant and entitled, sure, but really due more to genuine obliviousness as much as anything else.

Words can have multiple connotations that are usually made clear by context.

He is English = He is from England
She speaks English = She speaks the English language (but is not necessarily English)
She has an English accent = Her accent when she speaks is similar to that of the residents of Englad

Likewise:

Nicky Hayden is American = Nicky Hayden is a person from the United States of America
Yonny Hernandez is American = Yonny Hernandez is a person from the enormous landmass that is the American range of continents

I never understood why (having lived in South America) some people got so caught up on people from the US being described as American. I mean, it's just the word English uses for it. If you feel so belittled by that, then maybe you need to get outside and get some real problems to worry about?

In my time in South America I never heard one person say "Soy Americano"....
In Peru, for example, I heard plenty of "Soy Peruano" (or Peruana when talking to the lovely ladies.....)

I reckon you've just dug a bigger hole for yourself with that response, better to put that down as a bad idea and move on :-)

I was born in Colombia and lived my whole life in the U.S., so my word is final :)

Rabid is right, going by how people self-identify, south americans (well, Colombians that I know at least) say Americano to refer to gringos, I mean, people from U.S.

That being said though, South America is a continent, not a country, so calling Yoni an American is the same as calling someone from Egypt an African, or from Spain a European, which people do, both of themselves and others.

So yes Yoni is American technically, but practically, he's not since in general people in and out of South America don't self-identify as "American".

Also, people also distinguish South Americans from North Americans, which also obey's the continental convention more closely, so South American is also acceptable.

Done, discussion closed.

is looking very strong, and not only that, he seems so relaxed, like I've never seen him before. Maybe the change on his side of the box was what he needed to regain the confidence of champion that he once had?

Could I remind everyone that this is a motorcycle racing website? The intricacies of identity, nationality and grammar are interesting, but ultimately irrelevant. It doesn't matter that much, so let's move on...

I don't think anyone would refer to Rossi as the first European to cross the line. No one, except people on this forum apparently refer to people from Canada, Columbia, Mexico, El Salvador etc as "Americans"

Show me flag they will fly if hernadez ever gets on a podium, it will Colombian. Colombia is not "part of America" it is a country in South America, so even if your silly point were true you are still wrong he would be "South American"

No one in history, ever referred to Senna as the "Great American F1 Driver"

No one in the world refers to people from the North or South America as "American" No one, ever.