Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

MotoGP Brno: Ducati's Dovizioso beats Rossi and Marquez to pole

Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso took pole position for MotoGP's Czech Grand Prix, beating Valentino Rossi by two tenths in a thrilling pole shootout at Brno

Dovizioso, using the latest-spec aero fairing on his Ducati, leapt from eighth to the top of the timesheets with a flying lap completed after the chequered flag fell, posting a 1m54.689s to oust Marc Marquez from the top of the leaderboard.

It marks the Italian rider's first pole of the season, as well as his first since the 2016 Malaysian GP.

Rossi followed immediately behind Dovizioso to secure his place in the middle of the front row with a time 0.267s slower than his compatriot, which demoted Marquez to third.

It was the other works Ducati rider Jorge Lorenzo, also running the new fairing, who had led the opening runs - a 1m55.059s lap put him nearly half a second up on the opposition, led by LCR Honda's Cal Crutchlow.

But Lorenzo could not make a significant improvement on his second run, posting a 1m55.038s that was soon beaten by Marquez, and then by both Dovizioso and Rossi.

Joining Lorenzo on the second row are Crutchlow and the lead Pramac Ducati rider Danilo Petrucci.

Johann Zarco was seventh on the Tech3 Yamaha ahead of Suzuki pair Alex Rins and Andrea Iannone, who briefly went second fastest only to then tumble down the order, and Honda's Dani Pedrosa.

Tito Rabat (Avintia Ducati) and Maverick Vinales completed the Q2 order, with the latter posting a time three tenths slower than the one that had allowed him to progress out of Q1.

Vinales was the highest-profile runner in Q1 and duly commanded much of the session, taking an early lead in the opening runs ahead of the Alvaro Bautista.

The Yamaha rider improved again in the latter part of the session to put his Q2 progression beyond doubt, but Bautista found himself ousted by Rins before falling at Turn 12 trying to better his time.

Bautista was therefore demoted to fourth, with Franco Morbidelli ending up the quickest of those to miss the Q2 cut.

The Marc VDS Honda rider will head up the fifth row, ahead of Bautista and the lead KTM rider Bradley Smith.

Pramac Ducati's Jack Miller also crashed early-on at Turn 9, putting him down in 17th on the grid behind the second Tech3 Yamaha of Hafizh Syahrin.

Honda wildcard Stefan Bradl will start one place behind in 18th, while third Suzuki rider Sylvain Guintoli will line up 21st.

Aprilia endured a nightmare session as Scott Redding crashed at Turn 3 and Aleix Espargaro appeared to suffer a mechanical failure.

Espargaro will start 24th and Redding 25th.

Starting grid

Pos Rider Team Bike Gap
1 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati Ducati 1m54.689s
2 Valentino Rossi Yamaha Yamaha 0.267s
3 Marc Marquez Honda Honda 0.272s
4 Jorge Lorenzo Ducati Ducati 0.349s
5 Cal Crutchlow LCR Honda Honda 0.366s
6 Danilo Petrucci Pramac Ducati Ducati 0.514s
7 Johann Zarco Tech3 Yamaha Yamaha 0.532s
8 Andrea Iannone Suzuki Suzuki 0.581s
9 Alex Rins Suzuki Suzuki 0.742s
10 Dani Pedrosa Honda Honda 0.785s
11 Tito Rabat Avintia Ducati Ducati 0.997s
12 Maverick Vinales Yamaha Yamaha 1.134s
13 Franco Morbidelli MVDS Honda Honda 1.340s
14 Alvaro Bautista Aspar Ducati Ducati 1.342s
15 Bradley Smith KTM KTM 1.529s
16 Hafizh Syahrin Tech3 Yamaha Yamaha 1.596s
17 Jack Miller Pramac Ducati Ducati 1.627s
18 Stefan Bradl Honda Honda 1.641s
19 Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda Honda 1.823s
20 Sylvain Guintoli Suzuki Suzuki 2.348s
21 Thomas Luthi MVDS Honda Honda 2.519s
22 Karel Abraham Aspar Ducati Ducati 2.528s
23 Aleix Espargaro Aprilia Aprilia 2.561s
24 Scott Redding Aprilia Aprilia 2.749s
25 Xavier Simeon Avintia Ducati Ducati 3.359s
1001 Pol Espargaro KTM KTM 1.664s

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Vinales didn’t say 'a single word' about MotoGP split - Forcada
Next article MotoGP Brno: Suzuki wildcard Guintoli riding with two broken ribs

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe