MotoGP 2017: Marquez pips Petrucci to take pole for GermanGP

Marc Marquez beats Danilo Petrucci in a last minute showdown to clinch his eighth career pole at the Sachsenring circuit in Germany. 

Marc Marquez continued his dominance at the Sachsenring circuit as he grabbed pole for the GermanGP for the eighth time running. The Spaniard will be joined by Octo Pramac Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci (2^nd) and his Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa (3^rd) on the front row of the grid for tomorrow’s race.

The qualifying session was marred by the rains as the 15-minute session started in full wet conditions. However, while all most of the riders improved upon their lap times from final practice, it was Petrucci and Pedrosa who were locked down for the pole fight. Petrucci, who made his way up through Q1, looked stronger and managed to pip Pedrosa for the top position during the first half of the session. Marquez, meanwhile, started gaining momentum by then and briefly made it to the top. Petrucci was quicker to respond though and snatched the provisional pole from the reigning world champion.

The last minute saw an ultimate showdown between Petrucci and Marquez as both the riders posted their best lap times of the session. Although this time around it was Marquez who was 0.16s quicker than Petrucci and, therefore, denied the Italian his maiden pole in MotoGP. Pedrosa was over half a second slower than the top two riders and settled for third.

The second row will have LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow in fourth, Monster Tech 3 Yamaha’s Jonas Folger in fifth and Factory Ducati’s Jorge Lorenzo – who looked quite comfortable going fast in the wet for a very long time today - in sixth. Behind them will be Espargaro brothers – Red Bull KTM’s Pol Esparagaro and Aleix Espargaro of Factory Aprlia in seventh and eight, respectively.

Last race’s winner, Valentino Rossi, struggled to put his factory Yamaha machinery anywhere near the top as he was ninth fastest. Championship leader Andrea Dovizioso faced similar problems as he barely made it to the top ten. Movistar Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales also had a tough time as his best lap was only good for the 11^th spot.