Indianapolis MotoGP: Marc Marquez beats Andrea Dovizioso to pole
Marc Marquez claimed his eighth pole of the 2014 MotoGP season at Indianapolis, ahead of Andrea Dovizioso's Ducati
Runaway championship leader Marquez's Q2 began badly when he carried too much speed into Turn 1 on his opening lap, flew across the grass and ended up on the IndyCar oval.
But as ever, Marquez was completely unflustered and on his next lap banged in a 1m31.718s to beat provisional polesitter Jorge Lorenzo's Yamaha by nearly three tenths of a second.
Marquez subsequently improved by another tenth, and Dovizioso followed the Honda on that lap, leaping up to second in the process, 0.025 seconds ahead of Lorenzo.
Three Yamahas line up on row two: the Forward version of Aleix Espargaro taking fourth ahead of Lorenzo's factory team-mate Valentino Rossi and Tech 3's Pol Espargaro.
Marquez's Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa's muted weekend continued as he qualified only eighth, behind Andrea Iannone.
Bradley Smith had a violent crash in the closing moments of qualifying, getting briefly caught under his Tech 3 Yamaha as it slid along the track after a high-side. He was able to walk away with assistance from the marshals.
Scott Redding earned his first Q2 appearance by beating fellow Briton Cal Crutchlow to the top spot in Q1.
Although Broc Parkes's crash at the last corner meant riders' final laps were stymied by yellow flags, no one had looked quick enough to depose Redding regardless.
The two Brits brought up the rear in Q2, just behind practice three pacesetter Stefan Bradl. Crutchlow had one lap disallowed for infringing track limits in the first sector and will start 12th.
Redding's jump to the front in Q1 knocked Yonny Hernandez's Pramac Ducati out of the pole shootout, and he also outpaced the factory-spec Honda of his Gresini team-mate Alvaro Bautista, who was only fourth in the session.
That Bautista was out in qualifying at all was slightly miraculous after his horrendous high-side in morning practice.
Another Brit to impress was Nicky Hayden's stand-in Leon Camier, who took 16th on the grid for his MotoGP and Indy debut, two places and two tenths ahead of Aspar team-mate Hiroshi Aoyama.
Pos Rider Team/Bike Time Gap 1. Marc Marquez Honda 1m31.619s 2. Andrea Dovizioso Ducati 1m31.844s +0.225s 3. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m31.869s +0.250s 4. Aleix Espargaro Forward Yamaha 1m32.113s +0.494s 5. Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1m32.160s +0.541s 6. Pol Espargaro Tech 3 Yamaha 1m32.243s +0.624s 7. Andrea Iannone Pramac Ducati 1m32.254s +0.635s 8. Dani Pedrosa Honda 1m32.331s +0.712s 9. Bradley Smith Tech 3 Yamaha 1m32.343s +0.724s 10. Stefan Bradl LCR Honda 1m32.514s +0.895s 11. Scott Redding Gresini Honda 1m32.714s +1.095s 12. Cal Crutchlow Ducati 1m32.794s +1.175s 13. Yonny Hernandez Pramac Ducati 1m33.166s Q1 14. Alvaro Bautista Gresini Honda 1m33.294s Q1 15. Colin Edwards Forward Yamaha 1m33.625s Q1 16. Leon Camier Aspar Honda 1m33.747s Q1 17. Danilo Petrucci Ioda Aprilia 1m33.837s Q1 18. Hiroshi Aoyama Aspar Honda 1m33.948s Q1 19. Mike di Meglio Avintia FTR-Kawasaki 1m34.244s Q1 20. Hector Barbera Avintia FTR-Kawasaki 1m34.332s Q1 21. Karel Abraham Cardion Honda 1m34.369s Q1 22. Broc Parkes PBM-Aprilia 1m34.764s Q1 23. Michael Laverty PBM-Aprilia 1m34.814s Q1
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