Bradl denies Marquez Laguna pole

Stefan Bradl claimed a shock MotoGP pole at Laguna Seca after Marc Marquez blew his chances with a crash.

Marquez had looked set to dominate qualifying, having been quickest in practice sessions two, three and four, and with main rivals Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa nursing injuries.

Championship leader Marquez duly commenced Q2 with two laps half a second clear of the pack.

But while trying to improve further, he slid into a low-side crash at Turn 6.

Until the final minute, it appeared that Marquez’s 1m21.193s might still hold for pole.

That was until Bradl launched his LCR Honda to the top with a lap 0.017 seconds faster than the man he beat to the 2011 Moto2 title, giving the German his first ever MotoGP pole.

It was an all-Honda front row, with Alvaro Bautista’s thrid place for Gresini almost as big a surprise as Bradl’s pole given the Spaniard’s recent difficulties.

Valentino Rossi was the fastest Yamaha in fourth.

Cal Crutchlow had a troubled session, crashing in practice four just before qualifying then losing half of Q2 to a sensor problem on his Tech 3 Yamaha.

The Briton salvaged fifth with one of the few flying laps he managed.

Lorenzo challenged for a front row spot despite his injuries, but ultimately had to settle for sixth.

That was just one place ahead of Pedrosa, who made short work of getting through Q1 to the pole shootout having sat out practice one and three to avoid straining his damaged shoulder.

Andrea Dovizioso was top Ducati in eighth, followed by Bradley Smith, Nicky Hayden and CRT pacesetter Aleix Espargaro.

The latter’s Aspar team-mate Randy de Puniet reached Q2 but crashed at Turn 3 before he could set a time.

Pramac’s stand-in rider Alex de Angelis will start 14th for his MotoGP comeback.

Only 23 bikes will contest the race as American wildcard Blake Young and his Attack team had to withdraw following Young’s destructive crash on Friday afternoon.

Pos  Rider             Team/Bike             Time       Gap
  1.  Stefan Bradl      LCR Honda             1m21.176s
  2.  Marc Marquez      Honda                 1m21.193s  +0.017s
  3.  Alvaro Bautista   Gresini Honda         1m21.373s  +0.197s
  4.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha                1m21.418s  +0.242s
  5.  Cal Crutchlow     Tech 3 Yamaha         1m21.420s  +0.244s
  6.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha                1m21.453s  +0.277s
  7.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda                 1m21.728s  +0.552s
  8.  Andrea Dovizioso  Ducati                1m22.026s  +0.850s
  9.  Bradley Smith     Tech 3 Yamaha         1m22.075s  +0.899s
 10.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati                1m22.090s  +0.914s
 11.  Aleix Espargaro   Aspar Aprilia         1m22.099s  +0.923s
 12.  Randy de Puniet   Aspar Aprilia
 13.  Hector Barbera    Avintia FTR-Kawasaki  1m22.808s  Q1
 14.  Alex de Angelis   Pramac Ducati         1m23.253s  Q1
 15.  Colin Edwards     Forward FTR-Kawasaki  1m23.272s  Q1
 16.  Danilo Petrucci   Ioda-Suter-BMW        1m23.323s  Q1
 17.  Claudio Corti     Forward FTR-Kawasaki  1m23.616s  Q1
 18.  Yonny Hernandez   PBM Aprilia           1m23.875s  Q1
 19.  Karel Abraham     Cardion Aprilia       1m23.919s  Q1
 20.  Michael Laverty   PBM-Aprilia           1m23.987s  Q1
 21.  Hiroshi Aoyama    Avintia FTR-Kawasaki  1m24.235s  Q1
 22.  Bryan Staring     Gresini FTR-Honda     1m24.756s  Q1
 23.  Lukas Pesek       Ioda-Suter-BMW        1m24.809s  Q1
 

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/other-news/motorcycles/motogp/bradl-denies-marquez-laguna-pole

Duncan Hamilton Lewis Hamilton David Hampshire Sam Hanks