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I was able to qualify directly to Q2, so I was already super-happy at that point
Marc Márquez topped the timesheets in the 3 practice sessions held today, and remains the only rider to have achieved a pole position in Austin. The Repsol Honda rider is the man with the most GP pole positions in history and now has 74 in his entire career -46 in MotoGP.
After crashing at Turn 13 when leading qualifying, Márquez went back out on track with his second bike. He lowered his time again for a 2:03.658 pole lap.
Dani Pedrosa entered Q2 directly, and achieved a place on the third row of the starting grid after clocking the ninth best time.
Marc Márquez
“Basically, today was good for us, as we were the fastest in qualifying and, most importantly, were able to keep a good race pace in FP3 and FP4. Of course qualifying was a bit hectic. I crashed and had to take my second bike for the second run. I went out, and unfortunately I didn’t expect Maverick to arrive behind me because I was focused on Andrea (Iannone), who was waiting ahead and who I knew could be very fast. I apologized to Maverick but I didn’t realized he was behind me until I heard his engine.So tomorrow I’ll start from fourth. It will be important to choose the right tyre; we’ve worked a lot on used tyres and I was able to be consistent during the practices, but this track is quite physically demanding and tomorrow the temperature should be higher, so we’ll see. We’ll try and remain fully concentrated.”
Dani Pedrosa
“Of course I’m quite satisfied because I honestly didn’t expect to be able to ride, as this track is very hard. I was able to qualify directly to Q2, so I was already super-happy at that point. This morning I had to make a big effort, and I felt more pain compared to yesterday. I was expecting rain today, which would have let me have a little bit less stress on the hand so that I could recover more easily for tomorrow. But unfortunately, it was dry, and I had to go. My position wasn’t so bad at one point in qualifying, but I wasn’t able to improve, so I lost some positions. Anyway, I’m more than surprised just to be riding. For tomorrow, we’ll see if we can get some help from the medicines and see if this will let me give more effort, because the race is long.”