MotoGP Valencia: In form Rossi takes pole at season finale

Valentino Rossi took his 50th MotoGP pole position and the first since 2010 after beating Pramac’s Andrea Iannone and Honda rider Dani Pedrosa in the season closing Valencia Motorcycle Grand Prix at the Ricardo Tormo circuit.

After being overshadowed by teammate Jorge Lorenzo on his return to Yamaha last season, Rossi has upped his game this year and is currently 12 points ahead in the battle for second in the championship.

Lorenzo, however, will be aiming to turn the MotoGP standings in his favour from fourth on the grid.

In between the two Yamaha riders come the customer Ducati of Andrea Iannone who missed the Malaysian MotoGP round after a huge crash in practice and the lead Honda of Dani Pedrosa.

Marc Marquez crashed on his final flying lap and will start from a distant fifth place. But if the Spaniard emerges as the winner on Sunday, he will be the first MotoGP rider to win 13 races in a season - a record he definitely deserves, having showed fantastic form all season long.

Pol Espargaro and Bradley Smith were fifth and sixth respectively for Forward Yamaha ahead of factory Ducati riders Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso.

VALENCIA MOTOGP - QUALIFYING 2 RESULTS

1. Valentino Rossi
2. Andrea Iannone
3. Dani Pedrosa
4. Jorge Lorenzo
5. Marc Marquez
6. Pol Espargaro
7. Bradley Smith
8. Cal Crutchlow
9. Andrea Dovizioso
10. Stefan Bradl
11. Aleix Espargaro
12. Michele Pirro

MOTO2: CHAMPION RABAT ON POLE

Newly crowned Moto2 champion Esteve Rabat took his 11th pole position of the season at Valencia, piping Caterham’s Johann Zarco by just four hundredths of a second.

Zarco has showed supreme form in qualifying all season long and the Valencia round of the season was no exception. He, however, couldn’t match Rabat for his second career pole in the intermediate class.

Rookie rider Franco Morbidelli was the star of the session, putting his customer Kalex on the front row of the grid.

MOTO3: ANTONELLI ON POLE, CHAMPIONSHIP RIVALS MILLER AND MARQUEZ ON FRONT ROW

The Moto3 title is yet to be settled with Jack Miller and Alex Marquez separated by just 11 points in the drivers standings with the latter having an upper hand going into the final round of the season

And while the two battled to qualify higher than each other, Go&Fun’s Niccolo Antonelli took his first career podium in Moto3 with laptime of 1:39.183.

Miller will try to emulate his Malaysian Moto3 performance where he pushed Marquez wide multiple times in the race(in a fair and square manner) to stay ahead. The Australia starts second on the grid with his Spanish rival alongside in third.