Valencia MotoGP qualifying
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KTM's Bradley Smith is the early leader with a 1m33.011s, but Vinales is set to dethrone the Briton.
Ducati boss Paolo Ciabatti reckons Lorenzo is still not as strong as he'd like to be, which is why his weekend has been rather underwhelming so far. The more predictable dry conditions could help him out a bit.
We have one rider missing in Xavier Simeon, whose rather underwhelming rookie season ends in heartbreaking style as the Belgian has been declared unfit following a couple of crashes on Friday.
Green flag
Q1 begins.
Conditions are damp, but definitely dry enough for slicks. That could save Yamaha from a disaster of a qualifying, Vinales and Hafizh Syahrin were sixth and eighth in FP4. On the other hand, Rossi was just 22nd.
Information
Q1 field: Vinales; Morbidelli; Iannone; Rossi; Bradl; Bautista; Lorenzo; Abraham; Redding; Smith; Syahrin; Nakagami; Luthi; Torres.
Checkered flag
FP4 has just ended, and it is who else but Marquez on top. Zarco is second then we have a KTM in Pol Espargaro, whose brother Aleix took fourth for Aprilia. Fifth-placed Andrea Dovizioso means we have five different bikes in the top five. Unfortunately, the top Suzuki of Iannone is only 10th so we don't have the perfect top six.
We have perhaps the most stacked Q1 field all year. Yamaha's issues in the wet are apparent as both Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi will be in the first part of qualifying alongside Jorge Lorenzo, whose return to racing hasn't been very successful so far. Then there is Andrea Iannone, who has been back to his best in the past few rounds.
Crash
Miller has been quick all weekend, he was second in FP1 and fourth in FP3, but he just had a fall in FP4, his third crash this weekend. If he has only one bike available in qualifying, that could cost him a potential good result.
t.co/q91pvuIH3u"/>There's nothing quite like seeing a #MotoGP bike tackle turn 13 at Valencia in the dry.... @jackmilleraus 😍 #ValenciaGP t.co/q91pvuIH3u
Marc Marquez is the champion, Andrea Dovizioso is the runner-up, not a lot is left to decide this weekend but the season finale still promises to be really fun. The first three practice sessions of the weekend took place in wet conditions but qualifying is set to be dry enough for slicks. Hard to tell who will be the best to adapt, but one could argue the conditions are tailor-made for the likes of Marquez and Jack Miller.
Welcome to the live coverage for the qualifying session of the 2018 MotoGP season finale at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Valencia.
By: Matt Beer
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