Who would have predicted at the start of this year that Suzuki could finish 1/2 in qualifying for any given race on the calendar? That is exactly what happened earlier today at the Catalunya Circuit, where Aleix Espargaro took pole and his teammate Maverick Viñales took the second spot. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) will line up third, with Marc Marquez (Honda) qualifying fourth.
Granted, the Suzukis had the benefit of a softer rear tire than is available to the other factory teams, but trackside observers noted Suzuki’s pace on longer runs was also significantly improved. As we pointed out in yesterday’s article, Suzuki has received a much needed horsepower/top speed boost for this round, and both of their Spanish riders love the Catalunya track.
Most expectations for tomorrow, however, are that Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo may well increase his string of race wins to four. Lorenzo has been very fast during practice on extended runs, even on worn tires. It will definitely be an interesting race.
| Pos. | Num. | Rider | Team | Bike | Km/h | Time | Gap 1st/Prev. |
| 1 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARO | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | 332.9 | 1’40.546 | |
| 2 | 25 | Maverick VIÑALES | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | 333.9 | 1’40.629 | 0.083 / 0.083 |
| 3 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 336.9 | 1’40.646 | 0.100 / 0.017 |
| 4 | 93 | Marc MARQUEZ | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 344.1 | 1’40.754 | 0.208 / 0.108 |
| 5 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Ducati Team | Ducati | 342.8 | 1’40.907 | 0.361 / 0.153 |
| 6 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 346.3 | 1’40.928 | 0.382 / 0.021 |
| 7 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 335.7 | 1’41.058 | 0.512 / 0.130 |
| 8 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 339.9 | 1’41.068 | 0.522 / 0.010 |
| 9 | 35 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | CWM LCR Honda | Honda | 343.6 | 1’41.195 | 0.649 / 0.127 |
| 10 | 68 | Yonny HERNANDEZ | Octo Pramac Racing | Ducati | 341.8 | 1’41.333 | 0.787 / 0.138 |
| 11 | 44 | Pol ESPARGARO | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 338.7 | 1’41.385 | 0.839 / 0.052 |
| 12 | 29 | Andrea IANNONE | Ducati Team | Ducati | 345.7 | 1’41.524 | 0.978 / 0.139 |
I hope those Suzuki’s in the picture aren’t going out onto the track. Front brake rotors are missing on all of them?!?!?!
Lot’s of surprised qualifying. Congrats to Suzuki, that’s amazing for a first year manufacturer (as far as GP goes). And Yonny Hernandez is ahead of Andrea Iannone? the top 12 times all within a second makes for good racing!
Beautiful machine. Great news for the series. Lorenzo. Man, he’s like a dog at the dog track. He just goes after it. So smooth.
Post race:
Whelp, so much for qualifying when the red lights went out.
ironic… the two slowest “top-speed records” lead to the two fastest times
almost fastest speed last place
more details… when did the fairings stop covering the front wheel? (google images for other teams seems similar… btw; I didn’t know bout Duc wings on the front)
They were called “Dust bin” fairings and I think it was in the 60’s that they were outlawed but correct me if I’m wrong.
hahahaha good one, let’s be a micron more specific… cover part of it; like in the Hayabusa, CBR600RR 2004 or the Desmocedici GP8 800.
Interestingly the same reason they were banned, stability on cross wind could be the reason here as well.
So what. A lot of corners.
That is not an F1 where Mercedes is much more powerful
“So what. A lot of corners.”
Absolutely… that’s my point, numbers are not everything…
Lets hope Aleix and his wingman can keep Jorge behind them till Rossi catches up.
Another website calls the two Zooks the “Soft Tire Heros”.
Funny.
I was thinking of Soft Tire Flier.
I think it’s great and all, but I’m curious about the race outcome.
Hope there’s a good battle.
“Soft Tire Flier”
Much better ring to it! Get t-shirts made.
Simply stunning for a first year effort. Congrats Suzuki and much luck tomorrow.
The rear wheel on that first bike is spinning quickly.
Oops. Where is Barry Sheene
no bike has front brake discs on that photo (which makes the guy in the first photo kind of dumb for pressing one finger the brake lever), so this is like a process of just bringing outside the bikes to turning them on? Any GP-literate to share what is this about?
The front wheels are inside the garage on tire warmers until the last moment, when they are swapped onto the bike.
Danke sir!
Now that Suzuki is on top of MotoGP they’re preparing bikes to storm mile dirt tracks, hence no front brakes.
could also be the definitive solution to enter curves with as much corner speed as possible 😛
Just an unusual incentive for the riders to get their corner lines right!
(Brakes?? You mean the COWARD pedal!)
Great result even if its not the race. I used to barrack* for Suzuki back in the day.
*Translation for the US readers – “barrack” is Aussie for “root for” which we just can’t bring ourselves to say out loud……
“Barrack, barrack for the home team”? 🙂
Suzuki???