Pedrosa on pole as Marquez crashes repeatedly

Dani Pedrosa has taken pole position for the MotoGP Catalan Grand Prix as team-mate Marc Marquez crashed four times during the day.

Pedrosa took his second pole of the season with Marquez qualifying fourth on a crash-damaged bike, while championship leader Maverick Viñales led the struggling Yamaha contingent in ninth.

All four Yamahas were sent to Q1 at a relatively warm Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, as was LCR Honda rider Cal Crutchlow, guaranteeing multiple high-profile victims.

Tech 3 Yamaha’s Jonas Folger looked most comfortable in Q1 as he topped the session, while Valentino Rossi’s late effort still fell just short of Movistar Yamaha team-mate Viñales’ personal best.

Rossi will share the fifth row of the grid with Tech 3 Yamaha’s Johann Zarco and Marc VDS Honda’s Jack Miller, with Crutchlow middle of the sixth row after a late crash.

Marquez came into Q2 having set the fastest time in each of the first three free practice sessions, the two Friday sessions have been run on the new MotoGP chicane before the Safety Commission opted to revert to the Formula 1 chicane for safety reasons.

However, the defending world champion had also crashed during FP3, again in FP4, and made it three sessions in a row when he dropped the #93 Repsol Honda at Turn 3 on his second flyer.

Jorge Lorenzo held the top spot at that time, with Repsol Honda’s Pedrosa second, and Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso third, an order which remained at the end of the first runs.

Folger started his Q2 run later than most, having used up tyres in Q1, and immediately jumped to third.

Pedrosa then became the first man to lap in the 1:43s bracket all weekend, going 0.3s clear of Lorenzo, while Hector Barbera temporarily ran third on his Avintia Ducati.

Marquez had meanwhile managed to ride back to the pits and, with his other bike already out of action due to crash damage, had to persevere with running repairs.

It didn’t appear to worry the Spaniard as he then bumped Barbera off the front row, before binning his bike for the fourth time of the day while pushing too hard through Turn 5.

The fourth crash of the day for #MM93!#CatalanGP pic.twitter.com/wyME6WVDw2

— MotoGP™ (@MotoGP) June 10, 2017

In that time, Danilo Petrucci had put his Pramac Ducati onto the outside of the front row.

The order remained unchanged at the front thereafter, confirming a sizeable pole margin for Pedrosa and a first front row start with the Ducati Team for Lorenzo.

Marquez will share the second row with Aleix Espargaro (Gresini Aprilia) and Barbera.

Row three will be Dovizioso, Folger, and Viñales, while row four is Alvaro Bautista (Aspar Ducati), Scott Redding (Pramac Ducati), and Andrea Iannone (Suzuki Ecstar).

Red Bull KTM rider Bradley Smith’s weekend is potentially already over due to finger soreness sustained in a practice crash.

Suzuki Ecstar injury replacement Sylvain Guintoli is also in doubt after he too missed qualifying, the Frenchman afflicted by dizziness.

For the rest, 25 laps of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya await on Sunday from 2200 AEST.

Qualifying: Catalan Grand Prix