Vinales sees off Dovizioso for Misano pole, Marquez crashes

Maverick Vinales has claimed his third pole position of the year after fighting off Andrea Dovizioso at Misano as Marc Marquez crashed out to remain stuck in third.

The Movistar Yamaha rider is taking on the Misano round without team-mate Valentino Rossi, ruled out by a broken leg sustained in an enduro training crash, but guided his team to a first pole position since Mugello and breaks Marquez’s run of four consecutive poles.

After Marquez tipped off going over the white line on his final flying lap, it left a straight dual between Vinales and Ducati’s Dovizioso with the Spanish rider producing a 1m 32.439s to clinch pole by 0.162s.

Marquez’s earlier lap was still good enough for the front row to make it three different manufacturers on row one, with LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow taking top independent honours in fourth ahead of Jorge Lorenzo.

Johann Zarco completes row two on the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 ahead of Dani Pedrosa and Danilo Petrucci (Pramac Ducati) and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia).

Alvaro Bautista (Aspar Ducati) was gifted a Q2 place after both Jonas Folger and Jack Miller saw faster lap times deleted for exceeding track limits. Ducati test rider and wildcard Michele Pirro will start from the middle of row four with Karel Abraham completing the top 12 contenders for Aspar Ducati.

Misano MotoGP Qualifying results:

Qualifying 2:

1. Maverick Viñales ESP Movistar Yamaha (YZR-M1) 1m 32.439s [Lap 8/9] 294km/h (Max)

2. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team (GP17) 1m 32.601s +0.162s [9/9] 296km/h

3. Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda (RC213V) 1m 32.636s +0.197s [4/7] 292km/h

4. Cal Crutchlow GBR LCR Honda (RC213V) 1m 32.768s +0.329s [8/9] 293km/h

5. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Ducati Team (GP17) 1m 32.792s +0.353s [5/9] 293km/h

6. Johann Zarco FRA Monster Yamaha Tech3 (YZR-M1)* 1m 32.885s +0.446s [7/8] 291km/h

7. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda (RC213V) 1m 32.992s +0.553s [8/9] 295km/h

8. Danilo Petrucci ITA Octo Pramac (GP17) 1m 32.997s +0.558s [8/8] 292km/h

9. Aleix Espargaro ESP Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) 1m 33.149s +0.710s [9/9] 290km/h

10. Alvaro Bautista ESP Pull&Bear Aspar (GP16) 1m 33.417s +0.978s [7/8] 295km/h

11. Michele Pirro ITA Ducati Team (GP17) 1m 33.491s +1.052s [6/6] 291km/h

12. Karel Abraham CZE Pull&Bear Aspar (GP15) 1m 34.374s +1.935s [6/8] 292km/h

Qualifying 1:

13. Hector Barbera ESP Reale Avintia (GP16) 1m 33.920s 296km/h

14. Jack Miller AUS EG 0,0 Marc VDS (RC213V) 1m 33.933s 289km/h

15. Loris Baz FRA Reale Avintia (GP15) 1m 33.946s 288km/h

16. Jonas Folger GER Monster Yamaha Tech3 (YZR-M1)* 1m 33.987s 288km/h

17. Pol Espargaro ESP Red Bull KTM Factory (RC16) 1m 34.080s 291km/h

18. Tito Rabat ESP EG 0,0 Marc VDS (RC213V) 1m 34.095s 289km/h

19. Scott Redding GBR Octo Pramac (GP16) 1m 34.132s 289km/h

20. Alex Rins ESP Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR)* 1m 34.138s 289km/h

21. Andrea Iannone ITA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) 1m 34.148s 288km/h

22. Bradley Smith GBR Red Bull KTM Factory (RC16) 1m 34.507s 288km/h

23. Sam Lowes GBR Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP)* 1m 35.659s 283km/h

* Rookie