MOTEGI, Japan – Honda’s Marc Marquez collected his 10th MotoGP pole of the season during qualifying Saturday at the Twin Ring Motegi.
The pole, his first in Japan, came thanks to a strong 1:45.763 lap around the 2.983-mile Motegi circuit. He’ll be joined on the front row by the Petronas Yamaha SRT duo of Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Quartararo.
The Twin Ring Motegi was the last track currently on the MotoGP schedule where Marquez had not yet collected a pole position, but he was able to cross the track off his list on Saturday.
“First pole position on the MotoGP bike in Motegi is great, I didn’t know it was the last one,” Marquez said after his 62nd MotoGP pole. “It’s a circuit that I usually struggle at a bit but today the setup was working very well in qualifying and I was able to ride in a different way. It’s important to start on pole at the home of Honda. I felt very strong during free practice four, but the conditions weren’t really normal. It was still a bit wet out on track, tomorrow we will have a lot of pressure from Yamaha and Dovizioso I think, so we still need to work a bit in warm up. The target is to fight for the victory, let’s see what the conditions are.”
Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales headlines row two, with LCR Honda rider Cal Crutchlow and Pramac Racing’s Jack Miller next in the starting order.
Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso and Danilo Petrucci will start seventh and eighth, respectively. Aleix Espargaro and Valentino Rossi completed the top-10 in qualifying.