Remarkable Rossi gets first pole since Le Mans 2010

Remarkable Rossi gets first pole since Le Mans 2010

The MotoGPâ„¢ Q2 session saw Valentino Rossi grab pole at the Gran Premio Generali de la Comunitat Valenciana, with Andrea Iannone and Dani Pedrosa also taking front row slots. The session also saw Marc Marquez suffer a turn 4 crash without consequence, though he ended up fifth on the grid.

In what has been a great season for Rossi with the Italian raising his performance levels again, the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP rider achieved his 50th career pole in the premier class and his first since Le Mans 2010 with a 1'30.843 lap at the end of Q2. The pole position gives Rossi the edge over his colleague Jorge Lorenzo in the battle for second in the championship on Sunday.

Iannone (Pramac Racing) looked to be on course for his first pole in MotoGPâ„¢ but was beaten by Rossi by 0.132s as the session closed. Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) will get away from third on the grid having qualified 0.156s behind Rossi.

Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) heads row two and is sure to push hard in the race to beat Rossi, at a track where the Spaniard won last year. A crash for Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) mid session left him in fifth, his worst grid position since Barcelona-Catalunya last year.

Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech3) completes the second row as he seeks to clinch sixth in the championship in his rookie season.

Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3), Cal Crutchlow (Ducati Team) and Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) will line up on row three.

Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda MotoGP), Aleix Espargaro (NGM Forward Racing) and wild card Michele Pirro (Ducati Team) will line up on the fourth row, with Bradl and Pirro having made it through from Q1.

MotoGPâ„¢ Qualifying Practice Classification

1- Valentino Rossi ITA Yamaha 1’30.843
2- Andrea Iannone ITA Ducati +0.132
3- Dani Pedrosa SPA Honda +0.156

1st OPEN
11- Aleix Espargaro SPA Forward Yamaha +0.643

Moto2â„¢: Rabat secures record 11th pole in a single Moto2â„¢ season

In Moto2â„¢ QP at the Gran Premio Generali de la Comunitat Valenciana, Tito Rabat took his 11th pole of the season, with Johann Zarco and Franco Morbidelli also on the front row.

Marc VDS Racing Team's Tito Rabat secured his 11th pole position of the season and his first as the 2014 Moto2 World Champion. A 1'35.199s put him 0.043s clear of Zarco (AirAsia Caterham). The French rider presented a late challenge for pole, swapping positions with Rabat several times.

Morbidelli (Italtrans Racing Team) rounds off a solid rookie season with a front row start, 0.221s from pole position.

Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Sitag) and Xavier Simeon (Federal Oil Gresini) also made it into the top five.
Marcel Schrotter (Tech 3), Jonas Folger (AGR Team), Maverick Viñales (Paginas Amarillas HP 40), Mika Kallio (Marc VDS Racing) and Luis Salom (Paginas Amarillas HP 40) completed the top ten, all within half a second of pole.

Rabat's 11th pole of 2014 sets a new intermediate class record, one more than Toni Mang in 1981 and Jorge Lorenzo in 2006.

There were early QP crashes for Jordi Torres (Mapfre Aspar Team) and Robin Mulhauser (CarXpert Technomag) with the latter able to rejoin the session.

Sandro Cortese (Dynavolt Intact GP) had a small low side, holding onto the bike and able to quickly remount.

Moto2â„¢ Qualifying Practice Classification

1- Tito Rabat SPA Kalex 1:35.199
2- Johann Zarco FRA Caterham Suter +0.043
3- Franco Morbidelli ITA Kalex +0.221

Moto3â„¢: Antonelli on pole with Miller and Marquez on front row

In the Moto3â„¢ QP at the Gran Premio Generali de la Comunitat Valenciana on Saturday afternoon Niccolo Antonelli took pole, with Jack Miller and Alex Marquez set to join him on the front row.

Having shown good pace on Friday Antonelli (Junior Team GO&FUN) cashed in to secure his first ever Grand Prix pole, with a new pole record time at Valencia of 1'39.183.

Crucially, behind the Italian on the front row title rivals Miller (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and Marquez (Estrella Galicia 0,0) qualified in second and third places respectively. Miller trailed Antonelli by just 0.068s whilst Marquez was 0.373s off pole and suffered a light crash in the session.

On row two Isaac Vi̱ales (Calvo Team) will line up ahead of Marquez's teammate Alex Rins (Estrella Galicia 0,0) and Miller's colleague Karel Hanika (Red Bull KTM Ajo) Рahead of what will be another intriguing battle on Sunday.

Row three comprises Niklas Ajo (Avant Tecno Husqvarna Ajo), John McPhee (SaxoPrint-RTG) and Efren Vazquez (SaxoPrint-RTG), with Juanfran Guevara (Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3) at the head of row four.

Marquez took a small fall with 15 minutes to go, though both he and the bike were unaffected. Soon after Enea Bastianini (Junior Team GO&FUN Gresini) fell at Turn 4, losing the front end of his KTM.

Wild cards Maria Herrera (Junior Team Estrella Galicia 0,0) and Albert Arenas (Calvo Team) had a coming together in the closing stages, resulting in Herrera being stretchered away. Both were taken to the medical centre for check ups but neither were seriously hurt.

Hanika also fell in the final seconds of Qualifying but was uninjured.

Moto3â„¢ Qualifying Practice Classification

1- Niccolò Antonelli ITA KTM 1’39.183
2- Jack Miller AUS KTM +0.068
3- Alex Marquez SPA Honda +0.373