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In almost perfect conditions, with track temperatures soaring to a high of 42 degrees Celsius, Aleix Espargaro claimed the first pole position for Suzuki since Australian Chris Vermeulen topped qualifying at Assen in 2007.
The Spaniard smashed Dani Pedrosa's 2013 lap record (1'40.893) by over 0.3s as he set a 1'40.546 around the 4.7km Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya to claim his second MotoGP™ pole. It got even better for Suzuki and the all-new GSX-RR as teammate Maverick Viñales was just 0.083s slower in second, completing a dream result for the Japanese manufacturer in its first season back in the premier class since 2011.
Movistar Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo was the only rider who used a two-stop strategy to allow him to utilise three tyres during the session. Lorenzo has set the most consistent race pace over the weekend and he made it four successive front rows starts as he finished 0.1s behind Espargaro in third.
Repsol Honda's Marc Marquez (+0.208s) has benefitted from a new exhaust on his RC213V in Barcelona and led the session after the first set of flying laps. The reigning MotoGPâ„¢ World Champion looked like he take his 26th MotoGP pole on his last lap, only to lose crucial time in the last sector and he will start the race from the head of the second row.
Ducati Team's Andrea Dovizioso (+0.361s) managed to set the fifth fastest time on his GP15, ahead of Marquez' teammate Pedrosa (+0.382s). Pedrosa, who made it through from Q1 earlier alongside Andrea Iannone, was on course for a stunning lap time in the closing moments when he was over a tenth up after the first two sectors. But his hopes of a second successive pole at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya were thwarted when he was held up by Yonny Hernandez at turn 9 and be had to settle for sixth.
Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha) recovered from a poor performance on the first day of Practice to start the race from the front of the third row in seventh. Bradley Smith on the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 will start from just behind him on the grid as the leading Satellite rider, ahead of his compatriot Cal Crutchlow (CWM LCR Honda) who completes the third row after crashing out late on at turn 10 while he pushed for a first front row start of 2015.
Octo Pramac Racing's Yonny Hernandez rounds out the top ten, while Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) was frustrated to start from 11th on the grid after he crashed at turn 1. The leader of the Open class Championship, Hector Barbera (Avintia Racing), will start from the head of the fifth row in 13th, just ahead of Brit Scott Redding (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS).
The Aspar MotoGP Team duo of Nicky Hayden and Eugene Laverty were 18th and 22nd respectively, while Australian rookie Jack Miller on the CWM LCR Honda RC213V-RS will start from 21st position after he bounced back from a crash at turn 4 this morning.
Earlier, Karel Abraham had a nasty crash in FP4 exiting turn 4 and the Czech Republic rider will miss the rest of the weekend after a severely dislocating the big toe on his left foot.
Photos courtesy of motogp.com
