Valentino Rossi registered the best absolute time at Mugello Circuit today, conquering the pole position. Front row for Lorenzo and Viñales too, as the rest of the top 12 is in just 8 tenths.
With an amazing 1:46.208, Valentino Rossi wins over all the riders and goes back to the pole in front of his Italian fans, breaking a fast that started back in Japan 2016. The Doctor, the only rider to get the pole position for seven times at Mugello Circuit, is ready to begin the Italian GP from the first position on the starting grid. Together with him on the front row, there will be Jorge Lorenzo’s Ducati and his teammate Maverick Viñales. The current World Champion Marc Marquez finished 6th ahead of his main 2017 rival, Andrea Dovizioso. The last position in the top twelve went to Franco Morbidelli. The race will kick off tomorrow, Sunday, June 3rd, at 2 PM
In the first few minutes, Marquez and Lorenzo were intensely fighting for the head of the ranking, until Iannone (taking advantage of Viñales’ contrail) managed to overtake both riders registering an excellent 1:46.347 that temporarily gave him the pole position. But the battle for the pole has been more than fierce for the whole round, and many riders managed to register very fast partial times. Eventually, Valentino Rossi got the first position on the starting grid thanks to an unmatchable time. Right next to him there will be Jorge Lorenzo and his teammate Maverick Viñales. The second row belongs to Andrea Iannone, ahead of his fellow countryman Danilo Petrucci and the current World Champion Marc Marquez. Andrea Dovizioso finished 7th, followed by Cal Crutchlow and Johann Zarco. Alex Rins, Jack Miller and rookie Franco Morbidelli close the Q2 ranking.
Q1 started with Maverick Viñales taking the lead, temporarily followed by Tito Rabat but also by a very performing Jack Miller, who managed to get the head of the ranking just a few minutes before the end of Q1. Eventually, both the Australian rider of the Pramac Racing team and the Spanish rider of Movistar Yamaha managed to access Q2, while Dani Pedrosa’s and the Aprilia duo’s Qualifying ended in the worst possible way (Pedrosa even fell during FP4). The Spanish rider will be in the 20th place on the starting grid, while Espargaró and Redding got 21st and 23rd place respectively.
The starting grid
