Valentino Rossi took his first pole position since Motegi 2016 at the end of the MotoGP Italian Grand Prix qualifying session. The nine-time world champion reiterated he's a master of two wheels recording a lap of 1m46.208s and managed to beat former teammate Jorge Lorenzo by less than half a tenth of a second at his home track in Mugello. Completing the first row is Maverick Vinales on the second Yamaha, finishing 0.096s behind his teammate. However, the surprise package of the weekend was Suzuki's Andrea Iannone, who was in superb form throughout the day and will be starting fourth 0.139s behind the pole sitter.
(Showing incredible pace, could Iannone seal a podium finish tomorrow?)
Marc Marquez had set the record lap of 1m46.439s earlier in the day but was beaten by the top five riders in the last stages of qualifying. Iannone was the first break to Marquez's record with 8 minutes left for the qualifying session to end, but Rossi managed to dip even further with just 2 minutes left on the clock. Marquez looked like he was working hard to take back the pole position, but lost time in trying to save a crash at Bucine. The Spaniard, as a result, will be starting in sixth place tomorrow, followed by Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso in seventh. The top seven riders are split by just 0.292s, which will make for a competitive start tomorrow.
LCR Honda's Cal Crutchlow will be starting eighth, having qualified just four-tenths of a second behind Dovi. Johann Zarco of Tech3 Yamaha will start ninth, followed by Alex Rins of Suzuki in 10th place, who survived a crash during FP3. Pramac Ducati's Jack Miller and Franco Morbidelli of Marc VDS Honda will start in 11th and 12th places respectively. Tito Rabat of Avintia Ducati and rookie Hafizh Syahrun of Tech3 Yamaha were the fastest during Q1 and take 13th and 14th places, while KTM's Pol Espargaro, Alvaro Bautista (Aspar Ducati), Bradley Smith (KTM), Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda) and Thomas Luthi (Marc VDS Honda), take positions from 15th to 19th.
(Points leader Marc Marquez will start the Italian GP in sixth place)
Honda's Dani Pedrosa fielded his worst-ever qualifying position and will be starting 20th in the Italian GP tomorrow. Starting at the back of the grid will be Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro, Karel Abraham (Aspar Ducati), Scott Redding (Aprilia) and Xavier Simeon of Avintia Ducati.
With a rather disappointing season for Yamaha up till now, the pole position in Italy should come as a motivation for the team and the riders too. Both Rossi and Vinales have a chance to seal a podium finish tomorrow, while Lorenzo too just might take his first win for Ducati. With over two decades in MotoGP, Rossi will also aiming to complete 5000 points in the premier class championship, should he finish in the top five. And let's not forget, Marquez still remains a top player and just might take the top spot starting from sixth. There's clearly lots to look forward to in Mugello tomorrow.
