Motegi [Japan], September 24 (ANI): Marc Marquez will head the grid for his a hundred and fiftieth Moto GP race after conquering a weather-hit Saturday in Motegi whereas Pol Espargaro to start out eleventh.
Wet climate settled onto Mobility Resort Motegi in a single day and left the monitor soaking, validating the Honda Team’s aggressive Friday technique. The moist monitor meant that no riders would enhance their occasions within the morning session and each Marc Marquez and Pol Espargaro superior on to Q2 for the primary time for the reason that French GP earlier within the yr. Heavy rain would drive the cancellation of Free Practice 3 and delays to Qualifying.
But it was well worth the anticipate Marc Marquez who demonstrated his unrivalled abilities within the moist as he stormed Q2 to safe pole. It was at Motegi in 2019, 1071 days in the past, that the 93 final began from pole place for a Moto GP race. The 1’55.214 lap in Q2 marks a major second in Marquez’s continued restoration and exhibits that he has misplaced none of his velocity whereas injured. Marc was welcomed into Parc Ferme by Koji Watanabe, who’s attending the Japanese Grand Prix for the primary time at HRC President.
For the 91st time in his profession and the 63rd event within the Moto GP class, Marquez will begin with nobody however the security automobile in entrance of him for the Grand Prix. A constructive Saturday has definitely supplied a fine addition in morale to Marquez and the Repsol Honda Team, however everybody concerned are maintaining expectations practical for the 24-lap race. As in Aragon, the first goal of the race is to work on bettering the situations of Marquez’s arm and additional creating the Honda RC213V.
This is the primary pole place for the Honda Team since Silverstone 2021 with Pol Espargaro. The 44 had a combined day in Japan, a crash throughout the morning session hiding his wet-weather velocity. Unharmed within the crash, Espargaro headed immediately into Q2 because the rain continued to fall. The change in situations meant that Espargaro was unable to seize his type from earlier and can begin eleventh, forward of championship challenger Bagnaia.
With Iker Lecouna clinching a debut pole in WorldSBK, it marks the primary time Honda machines have claimed pole in each Moto GP and WorldSBK since October 16, 2011.
“Today is an amazing day, we must celebrate and enjoy it! I knew I could be fast in these conditions, and I had to take the maximum profit from it. It’s good to return to pole, to be on the front row at Honda’s home circuit – they deserve it because they are working very hard. Of course, it is just a pole position and it is in the wet – but coming from where we are, it’s really important to get these smaller achievements. If it’s dry tomorrow, we will come back to our reality but no matter what I am sure I will enjoy the first laps. I want to say thank you to HRC and to the Honda Team for continuing to support and believe in me, we are coming, ” stated Honda rider Marc Marquez on taking pole place within the Japanese Grand Prix.
“Today I was feeling good in the morning before the crash. It can happen in the wet because the conditions are always changing and the line is very small. The distance between a good lap and a crash is very small in the wet, but still, I felt like I could be fast in Qualifying. Then everything changed in the afternoon with the conditions and the bike wasn’t feeling like before, I even stopped to change the rear tyre to see if that was the problem but it didn’t change anything. It’s a shame because we had a lot of potential, but let’s see what happens on Sunday. Congratulations to Marc and the whole team, he did something impressive today, ” stated Honda rider Pol Espargaro. (ANI)