Motorcycling-Dovizioso puts Ducati on pole in Qatar
ByReuters
Published 28/03/2015 at 19:09 GMT
Italy's Andrea Dovizioso put resurgent Ducati on pole for MotoGP's season-opening Qatar Grand Prix with Honda's double world champion Marc Marquez having to settle for third best under the floodlights on Saturday.
Eurosport
Image credit: Eurosport
Dovizioso seized only his third career pole in the top category with his final lap in the dying seconds after Marquez's team mate Dani Pedrosa, who will line up in second place, had set the early time to beat.
"The pace of the bike is so good, now we can think of fighting with the fastest riders in the race," he told BT Sport.
Ducati have not won in MotoGP since 2010 but are competing this season in the 'open' category which allows them softer tyres in qualifying than factory rivals as well as other advantages.
Dovizioso's best time of one minute 54.113 seconds was 0.217 quicker than Spaniard Pedrosa and beat last year's winner Marquez by 0.324.
"The most important is that we got the target which was the front row," said Marquez who took pole last year. "Of course I expected a little bit more but I made a few mistakes, maybe I pushed too much.
"But anyway the most important thing is that for tomorrow we have a good pace, we will try to enjoy the race and it will be really interesting."
Three of the top five places went to Ducati riders, with Italian Andrea Iannone qualifying fourth and Colombian Yonny Hernandez fifth for the non-works Pramac Racing team.
Britain's Cal Crutchlow, a strong second to Marquez in practice on Friday, crashed out of the pole session and qualified 12th for his LCR Honda team.
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