2017 Brno MotoGP Qualifying Result: From Saves To Celebrations

Submitted by Zara Daniela on Sat, 2017-08-05 13:14

In the Brno sunshine knocking on the 30-degree mark, Marc Marquez opened proceedings with a front end save while teammate Dani Pedrosa showed himself as the first pole contender, a fast lap putting him on top by nearly half a second. Another massive moment for the world champion slowed Marquez down on his next attack but the Spaniard tucked behind his teammate at the top of the standings.

The second run saw the situation reversed, third time lucky for Marquez – the world championship leader going fastest on his penultimate lap to grab his sixty-ninth career pole position and fourth expensive watch of the season.

Valentino Rossi eventually split the two Hondas to grab second position on the grid, only a tenth of a second keeping the Italian veteran away from pole. Pedrosa in third made it two Hondas sandwiching the Yamaha on the front row, the Spaniard putting himself in a good position to increase his impressive podium tally.

The second row will be opened by Andrea Dovizioso, the first Ducati over the line, almost half a second down on the poleman. Despite a suspected fractured vertebrae for Cal Crutchlow, the British rider kept the doctors away for long enough to take fifth on the grid. Behind the LCR rider, Jorge Lorenzo added another Ducati to the second row. The Spaniard looked good in third after the first run but his lap time was removed for track limit infringements, leaving Lorenzo without a time set. The Ducati man only needed one lap to make it back into sixth position.

Maverick Viñales’ troubles in the second sector meant that even with several red sectors in the final few laps, the Spaniard could not do better than seventh place. The factory Yamaha will share third row on the grid with the two Q1 survivors, Danilo Petrucci and Alvaro Bautista.

Johann Zarco continued to struggle down in tenth, ahead of late faller Aleix Espargaro and Loris Baz. Top Suzuki was Alex Rins, who missed out on Q2 by a painful six thousandths of a second and will start thirteenth. After nearly topping FP4, Jonas Folger did not make it out of Q1 and qualified fourteenth, the two sharing fifth row with Jack Miller.

Results:

Pos.	Num.	Rider	Bike	Time	Gap 1st	Prev.
1	93	Marc MARQUEZ	Honda	1'54.981
2	46	Valentino ROSSI	Yamaha	1'55.073	0.092	0.092
3	26	Dani PEDROSA	Honda	1'55.119	0.138	0.046
4	4	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	Ducati	1'55.441	0.460	0.322
5	35	Cal CRUTCHLOW	Honda	1'55.489	0.508	0.048
6	99	Jorge LORENZO	Ducati	1'55.552	0.571	0.063
7	25	Maverick VIÑALES	Yamaha	1'55.663	0.682	0.111
8	9	Danilo PETRUCCI	Ducati	1'55.738	0.757	0.075
9	19	Alvaro BAUTISTA	Ducati	1'56.027	1.046	0.289
10	5	Johann ZARCO	Yamaha	1'56.075	1.094	0.048
11	41	Aleix ESPARGARO	Aprilia	1'56.355	1.374	0.280
12	76	Loris BAZ	Ducati	1'56.624	1.643	0.269
		Q1 Results:
Q2	9	Danilo PETRUCCI	Ducati	1'56.220
Q2	19	Alvaro BAUTISTA	Ducati	1'56.454	0.234	0.234
13	42	Alex RINS	Suzuki	1'56.460	0.240	0.006
14	94	Jonas FOLGER	Yamaha	1'56.540	0.320	0.080
15	43	Jack MILLER	Honda	1'56.543	0.323	0.003
16	8	Hector BARBERA	Ducati	1'56.685	0.465	0.142
17	17	Karel ABRAHAM	Ducati	1'56.786	0.566	0.101
18	44	Pol ESPARGARO	KTM	1'57.034	0.814	0.248
19	38	Bradley SMITH	KTM	1'57.042	0.822	0.008
20	29	Andrea IANNONE	Suzuki	1'57.245	1.025	0.203
21	53	Tito RABAT	Honda	1'57.288	1.068	0.043
22	22	Sam LOWES	Aprilia	1'57.465	1.245	0.177
23	45	Scott REDDING	Ducati	1'57.517	1.297	0.052