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MotoGP Red Bull Ring: Honda's Marquez secures third-straight pole

Honda's Marc Marquez claimed his third consecutive MotoGP pole position of 2017 at the Red Bull Ring, leading the two factory Ducatis of Andrea Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo

Marquez only recorded one flying lap before his standard mid-session pitstop, but his time of 1m23.473s left him with a convincing lead of seven-tenths.

While subsequent improvements from the Yamahas of Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales as well as Dovizioso reduced that advantage to 0.340 seconds, Honda rider Marquez went a further two tenths quicker with a minute left on the clock to consolidate provisional pole.

Ducati pair Dovizioso and Lorenzo came closest to that effort but could not better Marquez's best of 1m23.235s, ending up 0.144s and 0.386s off the pace respectively.

The pole is Marquez's fifth of the 2017 season.

Vinales held on to fourth by 0.026s as Danilo Petrucci brought the third 2017-spec Pramac Ducati into the top five.

Johann Zarco, who ran off-scheduled with his qualifying runs compared to his rivals after opting to join the track later and not pit in the middle of the session, was sixth on his Tech3 Yamaha.

Rossi had to settle for seventh, followed by the Hondas of Dani Pedrosa - who had negotiated the first part of qualifying - and satellite LCR rider Cal Crutchlow.

Suzuki's Andrea Iannone was 10th, 12 months after claiming pole for the 2016 race at the Red Bull Ring.

The 2015-spec Ducatis of Karel Abraham (Aspar) and Loris Baz (Avintia) took 11th and 12th respectively having both advanced directly into Q2.

Tech3's second rider Jonas Folger was the fastest of those knocked out in Q1 behind Petrucci and Pedrosa.

The German reverted to his old chassis after using a new one in last Monday's Brno test and on Friday in Austria, but his final flying lap was only good enough to edge Hector Barbera out for 13th on the grid.

Avintia Ducati's Barbera was second behind Pedrosa after the first set of flyers, but couldn't improve enough to secure a spot in Q2.

Pramac's Scott Redding ended up 0.001s slower than Barbera in 15th, as Pol Espargaro claimed 16th for KTM.

Aprilia suffered a disappointing session as Aleix Espargaro qualified in 20th, three places ahead of team-mate Sam Lowes.

Qualifying result:

Pos Rider Team Bike Gap
1 Marc Marquez Honda Honda 1m23.235s
2 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati Ducati 0.144s
3 Jorge Lorenzo Ducati Ducati 0.386s
4 Maverick Vinales Yamaha Yamaha 0.519s
5 Danilo Petrucci Pramac Ducati Ducati 0.545s
6 Johann Zarco Tech3 Yamaha Yamaha 0.644s
7 Valentino Rossi Yamaha Yamaha 0.747s
8 Dani Pedrosa Honda Honda 0.750s
9 Cal Crutchlow LCR Honda Honda 0.789s
10 Andrea Iannone Suzuki Suzuki 0.950s
11 Karel Abraham Aspar Ducati Ducati 0.985s
12 Loris Baz Avintia Ducati Ducati 1.248s
13 Jonas Folger Tech3 Yamaha Yamaha 0.780s
14 Hector Barbera Avintia Ducati Ducati 0.801s
15 Scott Redding Pramac Ducati Ducati 0.802s
16 Pol Espargaro KTM KTM 0.866s
17 Alvaro Bautista Aspar Ducati Ducati 0.967s
18 Mika Kallio KTM KTM 1.026s
19 Jack Miller MVDS Honda Honda 1.086s
20 Aleix Espargaro Aprilia Aprilia 1.212s
21 Alex Rins Suzuki Suzuki 1.213s
22 Bradley Smith KTM KTM 1.295s
23 Sam Lowes Aprilia Aprilia 1.617s
24 Tito Rabat MVDS Honda Honda 1.665s


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