Argentina MotoGP: Marc Marquez secures third consecutive pole
Marc Marquez stormed to his third consecutive pole position as he secured the top spot in qualifying for Argentina's MotoGP at Termas de Rio Hondo
The Honda rider was the only man capable of lapping the circuit in the 1m37s, finishing over seven tenths of a second faster than Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo.
Dani Pedrosa will start from third position, although the Spaniard finished nearly a second behind team-mate Marquez's time.
Aleix Espargaro was again the star of the Open class, qualifying in fourth place ahead of the Ducati of Andrea Dovizioso and the second Yamaha of Valentino Rossi.
Alvaro Bautista set the early pace before he was demoted by Stefan Bradl, both men matching the practice pace set by Marquez, who moved to the top of the times four minutes into the session with a time a full second faster than anybody else.
The Spaniard was the first man to dip below the 1m38s barrier, right before Bradl crashed his LCR Honda at Turn 2 as he tried to complete another flying lap.
The German took a heavy hit after a big high-side and did not return to the track. He will start from ninth place.
The order at the top did not change until the riders took to the track for their final runs during the last four minutes.
Pedrosa moved up to second with less than three minutes left, before he was demoted to third by Rossi, the second man to lap in the 1m38s.
Improvements from Dovizioso, Aleix Espargaro and Lorenzo were in vain, as Marquez flew even more and dived into the 1m37s with less than a minute left.
American Nicky Hayden made it to Q2 for the first time this year and will start the race from 12th position.
The other man to reach Q2 from Q1 was Briton Bradley Smith, who qualified in seventh.
Follow the MotoGP race at it happens on AUTOSPORT Race Centre Live from 17:30 UK time on Sunday April 27
Pos Rider Team/Bike Time Gap 1. Marc Marquez Honda 1m37.683s 2. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m38.425s +0.742s 3. Dani Pedrosa Honda 1m38.651s +0.968s 4. Aleix Espargaro Forward Yamaha 1m38.794s +1.111s 5. Andrea Dovizioso Ducati 1m38.856s +1.173s 6. Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1m38.949s +1.266s 7. Bradley Smith Tech 3 Yamaha 1m38.958s +1.275s 8. Andrea Iannone Pramac Ducati 1m39.237s +1.554s 9. Stefan Bradl LCR Honda 1m39.297s +1.614s 10. Alvaro Bautista Gresini Honda 1m39.429s +1.746s 11. Pol Espargaro Tech 3 Yamaha 1m39.822s +2.139s 12. Nicky Hayden Aspar Honda 1m40.541s +2.858s 13. Scott Redding Gresini Honda 1m40.238s Q1 14. Colin Edwards Forward Yamaha 1m40.476s Q1 15. Karel Abraham Cardion Honda 1m40.615s Q1 16. Hiroshi Aoyama Aspar Honda 1m40.616s Q1 17. Yonny Hernandez Pramac Ducati 1m40.691s Q1 18. Broc Parkes PBM Aprilia 1m40.981s Q1 19. Michele Pirro Ducati 1m41.018s Q1 20. Michael Laverty PBM Aprilia 1m41.103s Q1 21. Hector Barbera Avintia FTR-Kawasaki 1m41.129s Q1 22. Mike di Meglio Avintia FTR-Kawasaki 1m41.267s Q1 23. Danilo Petrucci Ioda Aprilia 1m41.686s Q1
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