Marquez will share Sunday's front row with title rivals Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa, Edwards was the fastest CRT machine
Saturday, 17 August 2013– Marc Marquez continued his domination of the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix weekend by claiming a spectacular pole position on Saturday, beating the previous pole record by over eight tenths of a second. The Repsol Honda Team rider will share Sunday’s front row with title rivals Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa.
The fight at the end of Q2 was be to be thrilling, but Marquez’s eventual effort of 1’37.958 sees him claim pole by the huge margin of half a second. Behind, just fractions separated positions two to four which are filled by Yamaha Factory Racing’s Lorenzo and Repsol Honda’s Pedrosa – both still recovering from crashes at previous events – as well as Monster Yamaha Tech3’s Cal Crutchlow.
Alvaro Bautista delivered a solid lap for a top five spot on the GO&FUN Honda Gresini machine, sealing a second row placing as American Nicky Hayden led Ducati Team’s charge from sixth. Behind Tech3’s Bradley Smith who will start seventh, the biggest disappointment arguably came for LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl who had been inside the top three in all but one of the practice sessions; the German’s session was ruined by a crash at Turn 1 and he will start from eighth place.
Marc Marquez – “I’m happy with how things went in the qualifying session. Obviously taking pole is important, but it’s tomorrow that really counts. Besides that, the conditions change a lot, tyre durability suffers and it will be tough as the race progresses. We knew the qualifying session was all about the single flying lap, the tyres had a lot of grip then and I took advantage of it. I set a very good time and I think for tomorrow we are ready to fight for victory. As always, we will give one hundred percent.”
Completing the top ten and frustrated to be behind several satellite riders were 2008 race winner Valentino Rossi (Yamaha Factory Racing) and Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team), while Energy T.I. Pramac Racing’s Andrea Iannone was 11th. Having moved into the shootout for the first time this season, Colin Edwards – the second of three Americans on this weekend’s grid – went on to qualify 12th for NGM Mobile Forward Racing. Missing Q2 for only the second time was Power Electronic Aspar’s Aleix Espargaro, who is the leading CRT representative in the standings but bruised both hands when crashing in Free Practice 4; the Spaniard will line up 13th on Sunday.
Dani Pedrosa- “Today went well, we were able to improve our times, so I’m happy! Starting from the first row is good for us and the feeling with the bike is more positive, but we still have to choose the rear tyre. The important thing for tomorrow is to start well and have a good race.”
The grid will be rounded out by American wildcard Blake Young, riding for Attack Performance Racing. After missing seven races through injury, compatriot Ben Spies was set to return this weekend, but has again been ruled out of action following a crash in third free practice this morning; having highsided on the exit of Turn 4, the Ignite Pramac Racing rider has suffered a separation to his left shoulder and as a result will miss at least this race and next weekend’s Czech event.
