MISANO ADRIATICO, Italy – Jorge Lorenzo took his fourth pole in five years at Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli on Saturday, topping qualifying for the MotoGP San Marino Grand Prix.
Lorenzo blistered the 2.626-mile, 16-turn circuit with a lap of 1:31.629, breaking his own track record set at Misano two years ago and notching the Ducati Team’s first pole at the venue since 2008.
Saturday also marked Lorenzo’s 42nd career premier class pole and third of the season.
Jack Miller put in an impressive lap of 1:31.916 to place Alma Pramac Racing second on the grid at their home race and qualify as the top independent team rider, .287 of a second adrift of Lorenzo, with Maverick Viñales making a last lunge for the front and ending up completing the front row for Movistar Yamaha MotoGP.
Lorenzo’s Ducati teammate Andrea Dovizioso lines up on the inside of the second row in fourth, followed by defending MotoGP champion Marc Marquez, who placed his Repsol Honda fifth despite crashing on his second run in a relatively fast low-side.
Undeterred, Marquez sprinted back to the paddock, hopped on his second bike and came within four tenths of a second of the pole even after his incident.
“On my second flying lap in qualifying, I was pushing hard when I lost the front and crashed. I got angry at myself as I knew I could improve a lot — I had a margin,” noted Marquez. “I rushed back to the garage so fast that only when I jumped on the bike did I realize I had something in my eye, and then I lost a bit my concentration. I made a few mistakes and I wasn’t very precise, so I didn’t make a perfect lap, even if the adrenaline was there.
“Now we wait for tomorrow’s race, because our rhythm is good,” Marquez added. “I feel comfortable on the bike, and we did a good FP4 session on used tires. Crash aside, today everything went very well. Of course, being on the second row means you must pay close attention on the first lap, but tomorrow we’ll try and fight for the podium.”
Cal Crutchlow, Valentino Rossi, Danilo Petrucci, Johann Zarco and Alex Rins completed the top 10, which were all covered by seven tenths of a second in qualifying.
