Aragon: Honda one-two in dominant qualifying

Marc Marquez beat the circuit record by just over six-tenths of a second in qualifying to claim pole in Aragon today. The previous record of 1:47.804 was made last year and was – perhaps predictably – also set by the Spanish number 93.

In a slight variation from the script however Dani Pedrosa waited until two and a half minutes from the end to post his fastest time of the weekend and to temporarily oust his stablemate from the top slot, but with the chequered flag waived and with Marquez left on track and the opportunity to post the his last time, it was inevitable that we would see another quick run from the odds-on champion in waiting. And so it was, with a final time of 1:47.187 being enough to pip Pedrosa at the post and to see his main contenders relegated to the second row.

The Yamaha’s of Lorenzo and the winner of the last round in Misano, Rossi have been struggling for speed and consistency all weekend and it showed in a session where the best that they could achieve was sixth with a 1:48.226 from Valentino Rossi. Lorenzo finished just behind in a lowly seventh.

Bradley Smith – in eleventh – fell at turn three with just three minutes remaining on the clock and was joined on the ground with a few moments later by Dovisioso on the factory Ducati, who could only manage ninth.

It was better news for the much-maligned Brit Cal Crutchlow however, as he posted a fantastic 1:47.897 to finish in fifth – equalling his best achievement of the season so far – and to set himself up for a solid second row. The fastest Ducati honours though were to go towards the Pramac rider Iannone who pulled an incredible 1:47.685 out of his lap-timing bag and secured a stunning third place and front row start for the Italian.

Speaking directly after the session, Dani Pedrosa seemed reserved but comfortable, ‘Basically we did a good practice and overall I’m quite happy. Now I’m on the front row which is really important and I’m happy with the performance today. For the race I’m hoping for a good battle with Marc’.

The Italian Iannone was much less coy about his performace, ‘I am very happy, the new bike can go a little bit and this is clear. But for the race it will be a little more different and a little more difficult. I am very, I am very fast and I am very positive for tomorrow’.

As usual it was all smiles from Marquez, ‘Dani here is really fast but I have felt so good all weekend. So tomorrow we’ll hope to do well’.

Earlier on, in the previous session, Scott Redding could only manage sixteenth, ‘It’s been a difficult weekend so far, but we’ll have to see tomorrow if we can find something to dial-in to help with the turns. I want to be the fastest, Satellite Honda.’