Despite taking a fall, the current World Champion Marc Marquez conquers his sixth pole position in a row at Austin, ahead of Maverick Viñales and Andrea Iannone.
The Circuit of the Americas remains Marc Marquez territory. The Spanish rider showed his attitude winning a new pole position on the Texas track despite falling halfway through the round and having to restart with his second bike. Maverick Viñales finished 2nd, but the Race Direction is investigating his near-hit with the World Champion. Andrea Iannone took up the last position in the front row.
Many things changed in the first seconds of Q2, until Marquez started a long series of quick rounds. He ended up falling and needed to continue Qualifying on his second bike. He was closely followed by Rossi and Crutchlow, leaving the ranking stable until the last battled minutes. Then a near-hit between the World Champion and Viñales: an accident that seemed to put an obstacle in front of the latter, leaving him under investigation of the Race Direction. But the track spoke, telling us that Austin’s undisputed leader is Marc Marquez. The front row will also host Maverick Viñales and Andrea Iannone, while Johann Zarco will start 4th ahead of Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo. Cal Crutchlow arrived 7th followed by Andrea Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa. The last positions in the top 12 belong to Danilo Petrucci, Alex Rins, and Pol Espargaro.
Q1 opened with Hafizh Syahrin taking the lead, followed by Danilo Petrucci. They managed to defend their positions all the way until the final assault. But just before the end Pol Espargaro conquered the head of the ranking, getting access to Q2 together with the Italian rider of the Pramac Racing team. Top rookie Takaaki Nakagami was the first to be left out, while Franco Morbidelli will start 17th on the grid, behind the Tech 3 team rider. To be taken into consideration are also Abraham’s fall, Rabat’s near-fall and the scary close encounter between Redding and Bautista, luckily with no actual hit.
The ranking
