MotoGP Mugello: Marquez just beats Quartararo to pole in qualifying – MotoGP

Marc Marquez secured his fourth pole position of the 2019 MotoGP season, beating Fabio Quartararo by 0.214s at the end of a frenetic qualifying session for the Italian Grand Prix.

Reigning champion Marquez established a new lap record at Mugello with his best time of 1m45.519s on his Honda, eclipsing the 1m45.733s set by Quartararo on the Petronas SRT Yamaha.

Danilo Petrucci, who earlier in the day beat the existing record at the Tuscan circuit, was third-fastest – as the top five riders all beat the Ducati rider’s previous benchmark.

It was Quartararo – who took his first MotoGP pole two races ago – that led after the opening runs in Q2 as he knocked Marquez off the top spot with a 1m45.992s, before improving to a 1m45.845s.

The latter time was enough for provisional pole right until the chequered flag, when Marquez improved with the help of a tow from title rival Andrea Dovizioso.

Behind third-placed Petrucci, Franco Morbidelli made it two Petronas bikes in the top four, while Jack Miller (Pramac Ducati) and Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) completed the second row.

Maverick Vinales, second after the first runs, could not improve in the closing stages and will start seventh on the best of the works Yamahas, followed by Francesco Bagnaia (Pramac) and Dovizioso, who had earlier set the pace in Q1.

Takaaki Nakagami (LCR), top KTM rider Pol Espargaro and Ducati wildcard Michele Pirro, who likewise made it out of Q1, completed the Q2 order.

The top two spots in Q1 were occupied by Ducati riders, as Dovizioso and Pirro set times just 0.005s apart to book their places in the second segment of qualifying.

It was Pirro that led after the opening runs with a best lap of 1m46.283s, comfortably clear of Suzuki man Alex Rins on a 1m46.539s.

Ducati elected to keep Pirro in the garage for the second runs, and the wildcard was duly demoted to second when Dovizioso posted a 1m46.278s to grab the top spot.

But Rins could not improve and will therefore start Sunday’s race from 13th on the grid ahead of Tito Rabat’s Avintia Ducati and Aleix Espargaro’s Aprilia.

Valentino Rossi will start his home grand prix from 18th, a year on from taking pole at Mugello, behind Karel Abraham (Avintia) and Jorge Lorenzo (Honda).

Rossi was only seventh on the opening runs, and then the Yamaha rider did not leave the pits in time to get a second flying lap on the board, leaving him 0.906s shy of Dovizioso’s time and with his worst qualifying result since last year’s Aragon race.

Johann Zarco suffered a high-speed crash at Correntaio on his final lap and will start 19th, one place ahead of Joan Mir’s Suzuki, while Andrea Iannone (Aprilia) rounds out the 23-strong field.

Starting grid