As expected, the Ducatis were very quick during Mugello qualifying with Andrea Iannone taking pole position with a record lap. Andrea Dovizioso qualified third, behind the winner of the previous two rounds, Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo.
Perhaps the biggest news today was the failure of Honda phenom and defending champ Marc Marquez to make it beyond Q1. Marquez qualified in 13th position, putting him on row 5 for tomorrow’s race.
Another surprise was the Ducati wildcard entry of Michele Pirro, the factory test rider. Of course, Pirro knows Mugello well, but it is still a bit of a shock to see a wildcard qualify ahead of Pedrosa, Rossi and Marquez. This only shows how well dialed in the Ducatis are at this track.
At this point, expectations are that Lorenzo will battle the two quickest Ducatis for the win tomorrow, but no one is counting out Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) despite his characteristically (for this year) mediocre qualifying effort, which put him back on the third row.
Here are the qualifiers from Q2:
| Pos. | Num. | Rider | Team | Bike | Km/h | Time | Gap 1st/Prev. |
| 1 | 29 | Andrea IANNONE | Ducati Team | Ducati | 349.5 | 1’46.489 | |
| 2 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 338.8 | 1’46.584 | 0.095 / 0.095 |
| 3 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Ducati Team | Ducati | 346.3 | 1’46.610 | 0.121 / 0.026 |
| 4 | 35 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | CWM LCR Honda | Honda | 345.8 | 1’46.657 | 0.168 / 0.047 |
| 5 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARO | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | 332.6 | 1’46.854 | 0.365 / 0.197 |
| 6 | 51 | Michele PIRRO | Ducati Team | Ducati | 349.1 | 1’46.870 | 0.381 / 0.016 |
| 7 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 343.6 | 1’46.875 | 0.386 / 0.005 |
| 8 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 343.7 | 1’46.923 | 0.434 / 0.048 |
| 9 | 25 | Maverick VIÑALES | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | 335.9 | 1’46.934 | 0.445 / 0.011 |
| 10 | 44 | Pol ESPARGARO | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 341.4 | 1’47.050 | 0.561 / 0.116 |
| 11 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 344.2 | 1’47.090 | 0.601 / 0.040 |
| 12 | 68 | Yonny HERNANDEZ | Octo Pramac Racing | Ducati | 346.8 | 1’47.423 | 0.934 / 0.333 |
Being far away from home and the DVR (in Boise of all places), I could only read about the race. Sounded like a good one with Rossi up to his usual crawl through the pack. Frustrating to see him only grab third and lose so many points to Lorenzo. Speaking of the Spaniard, he is on fire right now. I bet he takes the championship if he stays healthy. Really sad that Rossi can’t pull it together to qualify better.
Hope Crutchlow us ok, sounds like a bad crash. MM93 must be bitterly disappointed as must be Dovi. Wonder when Repsol will announce that they’ve not renewed Pedrosa’s contract? And when will Iannone have his first victory? What a season!
SPOILER ALERT!
Note, I don’t care personally (I just checked the MotoGP site myself before coming here, I don’t DVR things) – but some might. Race result discussion is probably better held off till a race report article, not in the comments on the qualifying report….
Some of these sick bastards just can’t help themselves. I had to get in the habit of not reading any MD comments until I watch the race.
same here… If I can’t watch something live, I stay away from the spoilers…
Feels a bit like going cold turkey from some drug (not being able to look at MD!)
LOL. Why is my eye twitching?!
Every race weekend I check in to see whether Valentino managed to do anything in qualifying. Every weekend he disappoints, ending up on either the second or third row, often behind satellite riders, even Yamaha satellite riders. Then he smokes them all in the race.
Wtf? Seriously. This is well beyond frustrating. Tomorrow is almost certainly going to be more of the same, with Jorge jumping out in front, Rossi working his way through the pack (hopefully without getting taken out or running off), Marquez doing the same, and the Ducatis fading late, leaving only Dovi to fight Jorge, Rossi and Marquez for the podium. If Rossi gets held up too much early in the race, it’s going to be Jorge out front again, with Dovi being his only real threat. Rossi will eventually overtake Iannoni for the last spot on the podium, unless Marquez goes berserk.
I’ve seen this movie already. I want a new one. Fer chrissake, anyone on a factory M1 who can race the way Rossi does ought to be able to outqualify satellite Yamaha-mounted Bradley freaking Smith every day of the week and twice on Sunday. Michelle Pirro? Cal Crutchlow? Dani Pedrosa, and his broken chicken wing?
Come on, Valentino. Figure this sh*t out, already.
” leaving only Dovi to fight Jorge, Rossi and Marquez for the podium..”
Look on the bright side, you couldn’t have written a sentence that interesting about MotoGP racing a year ago. I thing Crutchlow may find his way into in that mix too.
Iannoni may, as well.
Also, Rossi didn’t qualify behind Bradley Smith. He trailed him during practice, but not during qualifying. My mistake.
Because qualifying is not racing.
Valentino had best figure out very soon here that yes, qualifying is racing. Where one starts the race is determined by how one does in qualifying, and Valentino’s crappy starting positions combined with Jorge’s front-row starting positions are producing predictable race results.
The better one qualifies, the more open track, less weaving thru the crowd, less waiting for the right place to pass after being held back losing time, less wear on tires and nerves. yes Rossi needs to learn to qualify or at least start.
Ianonne on pole. Amazing, and he did well during the race as did Dovi till his sprocket went south. Aleix Espargaro looked good until the crash. MotoGP can be a tough game. Rider can look good, bike can look good, but riders can’t control outside factors. That is racing especially at this level. Dani also looked good. Arm must be doing better.
Watching the qualifying, it looked like Dovi towed Pirro around, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see him disappear in the race.
This has really been quite an interesting year so far. Yamaha and in particular, Ducati, have improved the bikes, Suzuki looking racier than anyone had any right to expect, and Honda taking a clear step backwards. This shake-up at the top is exactly what was needed for there to be any racing at the front that fans want to watch, as the MM93 show, impressive as it is, isn’t great racing. Add to this the recently resurgent Lorenzo riding with renewed motivation and vigor, and Rossi proving beyond all doubt and doubters that there is, in fact, gas in his tank, and you’ve go the best season in many years.
Meanwhile, did you know that the top level of road racing in the USA has an event this weekend? No, really, it’s true; MotoAmerica is at Road America this weekend.So far, ex-WSS rider and former AMA Superbike champion Josh Herrin proved that he can beat some pretty fast club racers when he won the Supersport race by half a minute. There were four other riders within a minute of him at the finish.
Will there ever be any motorcycle road racing in the USA that anyone cares about apart from the tiny number of die-hard fans and the people running and racing it? I don’t know, but the AMA and DMG have done so much damage over the years that KRAVE may be fighting an un-winable battle in a war that was lost years ago. I hope this isn’t the case.
“Will there ever be any motorcycle road racing in the USA that anyone cares about apart from the tiny number of die-hard fans and the people running and racing it? ”
Good question. I think it is a challenge for sure, and I am not optimistic.
Lorenzo for the win Dovi 2nd a Vale in 3rd unless MM93 takes him out on the first lap.
+1
And if Ducati win, will they now loose the extra fuel, weight, and tire advantages?
Seems they thought 93’s time was good enough to sit pat, and it weren’t.
This should be good!
Lets see if they race as well as they qualify.