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MotoGP Jerez: Crutchlow breaks lap record to claim fourth pole

Cal Crutchlow broke MotoGP's Jerez track record to take pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix ahead of Dani Pedrosa and Johann Zarco

Crutchlow was fastest by 0.259s in an otherwise ultra-close session, where positions second to ninth were separated by just 0.130s.

The LCR Honda rider took the lead with 1m37.752 after swapping to his second bike following his short first run, demoting factory Honda rider Marc Marquez from first place.

That time was not beaten for the rest of the session, but Crutchlow managed to improve again after the chequered flag fell and took his fourth MotoGP pole position with a 1m37.653s.

Pedrosa and Zarco jumped into second and third with their own late flyers and will share the front row of tomorrow's race with Crutchlow.

Jorge Lorenzo finished fourth, with Marquez ending up being shuffled down to fifth.

Despite going fastest in the first two sectors of the track on three occasions, Marquez failed to improve his best lap every time.

Suzuki duo Alex Rins and Andrea Iannone ended up 0.007s and 0.010s behind Marquez in sixth and seventh.

The GP18s riders, Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) and Danilo Petrucci (Pramac) took eighth and ninth, despite both being less than half a second off the pace.

It was a disappointing qualifying for the Yamaha factory pair Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales, as they ended up 10th and 11th, ahead of Pramac Ducati's Jack Miller.

Dovizioso and Vinales, the two biggest names taking part in Q1, successfully advanced to the second part of qualifying after missing out on an automatic spot in FP3.

The factory Ducati rider set a time of 1m38.402s on the only flyer of his first run, something the rest of the field couldn't match before the mid-session changes.

Dovizioso was the first to rejoin the track for his second run, and again only did one lap, with his 1m38.074s enough to secure first place.

Tito Rabat was second, 0.002s ahead of Vinales, after the first runs, but the latter edged by three tenths ahead on his second effort.

Rabat then crashed at Turn 1 shortly after his flyer and Aleix Espargaro took his place as Vinales' main challenger for the Q2 spot.

But a last-second effort from the Aprilia rider fell 0.040s short and he will start 13th.

Behind Espargaro, Honda rookies Takaaki Nakagami (LCR) and Franco Morbidelli (Marc VDS) will start 14th and 15th with Pol Espargaro leading KTM's efforts in 16th.

Rabat ended up in 17th.

Starting grid

Pos Rider Team Bike Gap
1 Cal Crutchlow LCR Honda Honda 1m37.653s
2 Dani Pedrosa Honda Honda 0.259s
3 Johann Zarco Tech3 Yamaha Yamaha 0.303s
4 Jorge Lorenzo Ducati Ducati 0.316s
5 Marc Marquez Honda Honda 0.324s
6 Alex Rins Suzuki Suzuki 0.331s
7 Andrea Iannone Suzuki Suzuki 0.334s
8 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati Ducati 0.376s
9 Danilo Petrucci Pramac Ducati Ducati 0.433s
10 Valentino Rossi Yamaha Yamaha 0.614s
11 Maverick Vinales Yamaha Yamaha 0.628s
12 Jack Miller Pramac Ducati Ducati 0.869s
13 Aleix Espargaro Aprilia Aprilia 0.736s
14 Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda Honda 0.828s
15 Franco Morbidelli MVDS Honda Honda 0.891s
16 Pol Espargaro KTM KTM 0.945s
17 Tito Rabat Avintia Ducati Ducati 0.957s
18 Thomas Luthi MVDS Honda Honda 1.099s
19 Mika Kallio KTM KTM 1.106s
20 Alvaro Bautista Aspar Ducati Ducati 1.185s
21 Bradley Smith KTM KTM 1.308s
22 Hafizh Syahrin Tech3 Yamaha Yamaha 1.482s
23 Karel Abraham Aspar Ducati Ducati 1.493s
24 Xavier Simeon Avintia Ducati Ducati 2.055s
25 Scott Redding Aprilia Aprilia 2.265s

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