Marc Marquez remains unbeatable in Austin as the reigning world champion clinched his sixth successive pole at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA). Just like in the past five years, Marquez pretty much dominated the proceedings in the practice and qualifying sessions in Austin, before claiming his 46th career pole. The Repsol Honda rider was joined by Movistar Yamaha's Maverick Vinales in second and Ecstar Suzuki's Andrea Iannone in third.
By now, it’s a known fact that COTA is Marquez’ territory. And so it wasn't surprising to see him dominate the practice session this year too. Marquez sat at the top the timesheets for all the practice session - barring FP2 where he was dethroned from the top spot by Iannone. However, Marquez was on the top again in FP4.
The qualifying session, however, wasn’t as smooth as Marquez had hoped. In his first run out, Marquez took a tumble in the gravel, which meant he had to ditch his first bike. Before crashing though, Marquez had a put in a decent lap and was still the fastest man on the track.
In the closing minutes of the session, Vinales came back stronger and was on a flying lap – which could’ve been his provisional pole lap. However, his charge was halted in the third-sector, when he found himself blocked behind a cruising Marquez – the Repsol Honda man was fresh out on the track on his second bike after the crash. Vinales looked miffed - and rightfully so - but quickly continued to put another cracking lap.
After the incident with Vinales, Marquez put his final assault and lapped the circuit in 2’03.658 – the first and only 2’03 lap over the weekend – to claim pole. Vinales and Iannone were 0.406s and 0.551s behind, respectively. Marquez' looks unbeatable for sure, but if there’s anyone who can challenge Marquez tomorrow in the race, it’s definitely these two.
Behind the top three, Johan Zarco will lead the second row in fourth, ahead of Valentino Rossi (5th) and Jorge Lorenzo (6th). Last race winner Cal Crutchlow qualified 7th, while Andrea Dovizioso was 8th. Dani Pedrosa put on a brave show to qualify 9th despite having a wrist surgery only seven days ago. Danilo Petrucci completed the top ten.
Update: Marquez has been handed a 3-place penalty for the incident between him and Vinales. As a result, he'll start from fourth, while Vinales will be on pole.
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