Marquez rides to eighth pole of 2014 at Indy

Marc Marquez took pole at the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix from Andrea Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo, clinching the top spot on the grid at the modified IMS track with a best lap of 1’31.619.

Marc Marquez
Marc Marquez

An eighth pole of the season for Marquez gives him a good chance of continuing his winning run as he seeks a tenth successive victory on Sunday.

Dovizioso (Ducati Team) produced a good lap towards the end of Q2 to get within 0.225s of Marquez in second, whilst Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) was a quarter of a second off pole as he completed the front row.

Aleix Espargaro (NGM Forward Racing) impressed again in fourth, whilst Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) reached his usual target of a top five qualifying position. Aleix’s brother Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech3) was provisionally on the front row but was eventually pushed back to sixth.

Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing), Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) and Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech3) will line up on row three, provided Smith is fit to ride after a big high side at Turn 2 in the final minutes of Q2.

Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda MotoGP) heads the fourth row after topping FP3 earlier in the day. Whilst Scott Redding (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) and Cal Crutchlow (Ducati Team) made it through from Q1 to qualify 11th and 12th respectively.

Substitute rider Leon Camier did well as he rides in place of Nicky Hayden for the Drive M7 Aspar team, qualifying 16th from Q1.

Alvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) qualified 14th after surviving a big high side earlier in proceedings in FP3, whilst Broc Parkes (Paul Bird Motorsport) walked away from a Q1 crash and will start 22nd on the grid.