Thai GP: Rossi misses Pole, Marquez sets record

Factory Repsol Honda Rider Marc Marquez stunned everyone in qualifying as he claimed pole at the first ever ThaiGP at Buriram after coming from Q1. He became the first rider ever to do so.

Marquez outdid his arch-rival & Factory Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi, who held on to provisional pole for a short duration. Factory Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso filled in the third place on the grid behind Marquez and Rossi.

Marc Marquez had to go through Q1 after crashing at turn 4 in FP3 to progress successfully into Q2. After advancing through Q1, he strived to conquer Q2. He set the fastest lap and clocked a time of 1:30.528. He bettered his figures few more times before Valentino Rossi pushed Marquez down to claim the provisional pole with 1:30.099.

Later, all the riders bucked up for the flying laps and Marquez once again pushed Rossi down to the 2nd spot. He edged out his rival by 0.011 sec to claim the pole. He became the first rider in the history of MotoGP to claim pole position after coming from Q1. The contest seemed tough as the top 10 riders were separated by just 0.572 sec.

Jorge Lorenzo had earlier suffered injuries in the crash in the free practice session. He is already nursing injuries from the crash in Aragon and decided not to race in the ThaiGP after sustaining a few others in the crash the previous day.

Factory Yamaha seemed to have made some progress after some bike adjustments. Both the Yamaha riders have secured good results in qualifying. Valentino Rossi will start the race tomorrow from the middle of the first grid. On the other hand, Maverick Vinales will start from the first spot of the second grid. Earlier, Yamaha riders had expressed dissatisfaction over their poorly performing bikes.

LCR Honda rider Cal Crutchlow tried his best to better his result in his flying lap but couldn't do much. He ultimately settled for the 5th spot on the grid after a brief provisional stay in the front row. He was 0.268sec behind Marquez.

Factory Suzuki rider Andrea Iannone tried a two-stop strategy in the qualifying session. He set his personal best lap in his third outing. He will start from the 6th place tomorrow.

Racing in his last season, Dani Pedrosa got a slight edge over Yamaha Tech3 rider Johann Zarco to secure the seventh spot. Johann Zarco, Ducati Pramac rider Danilo Petrucci and his teammate Jack Miller rounded-off the top ten places on the grid; at 8th, 9th, and the 10th spot respectively.

#ThaiGP - Qualifying Results2nd - @ValeYellow46 4th - @maverickmack25 #MovistarYamaha | #MotoGP pic.twitter.com/m2cBduW8gd

— Yamaha MotoGP (@YamahaMotoGP) October 6, 2018