Marquez crushes competition in Mugello qualifying

After his victory last week in Holland, Marc Márquez is showing that he is in excellent form during this intense period of the season and today achieved his second pole position of the year. The Repsol rider, who yesterday dominated the free practice, set the fastest time in the qualifying -held on wet tarmac- and tomorrow will lead the starting grid of the Italian Grand Prix.

In the free practice held this morning with the track dry, Márquez led most of the session. The Repsol rider showed again a very high pace on used tyres, preparing tomorrow’s race and on top of the times sheet for the main part of the session. Nevertheless, in the last minute the World Championship leader, Stefan Bradl, was able to snatch the first position from him by only 39 thousandths.

In the qualifying session, despite starting on wet tarmac due to the rain that fell during the MotoGP session, Márquez showed again that he is one of the most competitive riders at the Tuscan track. He was among the fastest and, after his last outing from the garage in the last minutes, he took a great step ahead and, lap after lap, reduced his times and finally set the fastest time, half a second ahead of his main rivals.

Marc Márquez FP3 – 1:53.610, 20 laps, 105 km. QP – 2:05.312, 19 laps, 100 km.
“It was difficult to get the pole position, as the track conditions could make you crash after the slightest mistake. It was very slippery and it was complicated to know how much you could push, as there were some parts of the track that were drying quickly and in others the tarmac was still wet. I kept a good pace, but always with a safety margin.

In the last lap I did my best, because I knew it was when the fastest time would be set, as the track was drying. I pushed to the max and achieved an important pole, so we are very happy. Now we have to keep our concentration as tomorrow, when we expect the track to be dry, I think we can have a great race”.

Source: Repsol Media