MotoGP – Japanese GP – Qualifying

After the huge debut GP at Thailand, we head to the circuit of Twin Ring Montegi for the 16th race at the calendar, with a  spaniard looking for his 5th title at the home race of the team; hoping for another exiting race from the asian tour.

First qualify session started with the presence of Danilo Petrucci and local hero Takaaki Nakagami as main candidates for a place of Q2. the session begin with strong times from  Smith and Petrucci, followed close by Aleix, Syahrin and Bautista, second stint begin and the main candidates improved their times; Tension increased as Franco Morbidelli crashed and Marshalls speculated an oil leak on track, so the riders had some extra pressure on the laps. At the end, it was Alvaro Bautista who took the Q2 pass, followed by the local hero, Takaaki Nakagami. Petrucci ended 15th, making evident that the 2nd part of the season hasn´t been nice for him.

Q1 Results:

13. Bradley Smith  14. Pol Espargaro   15. Danilo Petrucci
16. Hafizh Syahrin  17. Franco Morbidelli 18. Karel Abraham
19. Aleix Espargaro  20. Katsuyuki Nakasuga 21. Scott Redding
22. Xavier Simeon   23. Thomas Luthi 24. Sylvain Guintolli                                                      25.  Jordi Torres

Q2 hit the green light, with some strong laps from Rossi, Marquez, Dovi, Pedrosa nd Miller, then the first places were taken by Crutchlow and Zarco, as almost every rider on the session was hitting red sectors on a 20 lapse, very exiting moment. The riders enter the boxes for second stint, and timer were going lower, Jack Miller was on lead after a great lap, but Johann Zarco then made a greater lap, just to be beaten by a monumental lap from Andrea Dovizioso, Zarco was getting close for the lap for pole, but a mistake at the last corner was enough to deny him the chance to start at front of the pack, Miller completes the front row with 3rd place.

Q2 Results:

1. Andrea Dovizioso   2. Johann Zarco 3. Jack Miller
4. Cal Crutchlow 5. Andrea Iannone 6. Marc Marquez
7. Maverick Viñales  8. Álex Rins  9. Valentino Rossi
10. Alvaro Bautista  11. Dani Pedrosa  12. Takaaki Nakagami

Qualify is set, next up is the main event on a fan favorite track, expecting an intense battle from the group of ahead; Marquez would have a tough challenge if he wants to clinch the title at Honda´s home.