MotoGP Argentina Grand Prix: Alex Marquez takes shock maiden pole position despite crash and fire
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Updated 01/04/2023 at 15:05 GMT
A thrilling qualifying for the Argentina Grand Prix saw Alex Marquez take his first ever pole position. It was a rollercoaster hour for Marquez as he crashed and had a fire at the end of Q1, but went through to the second part of qualifying. As the wet track dried out, he took a risk by switching to dry tyres and took top spot with his final effort at the Autodromo Termas de Rio Hondo.
Ducati Spanish rider Alex Marquez rides during a practice session of the MotoGP Argentina Grand Prix at the Termas de Rio Hondo circuit in Santiago del Estero, Argentina on March 31, 2023
Image credit: Getty Images
Alex Marquez took his first MotoGP pole position in a thrilling Argentina Grand Prix qualifying, despite falling and his bike catching fire.
A drying track set up an exciting climax as Marquez was one of the few riders to put dry tyres on for the final part of Q2, which paid off.
The Gresini Ducati rider had to go through Q1, after missing out on automatic qualification to Q2, and was fastest in the first part of qualifying, although he had a fall on his final run at Turn 13 and his bike caught fire.
However, he changed to his second bike and changed to dry tyres in the final five minutes, before setting a 1:43.881, which was to take pole position from Marco Bezzecchi, who was also on slicks, by 0.172 seconds.
“I’m super happy,” said Marquez. “Q1 was so difficult with the wet tyre and I did a mistake at the last corner.
“It was not easy because Q2, when you have these conditions, and one bike it is not easy.
“We changed the tyres with the slicks, with a wet setup and it worked.”
Defending champion Francesco Bagnaia also took the gamble with dry tyres and was third to complete the front row, despite being 0.858 seconds behind Marquez.
Franco Morbidelli looked like he was going to take a surprise pole position, but was demoted to fourth, while Maverick Vinales was fifth.
Johann Zarco was top of the timesheets for the majority of Q2 before being bumped down to sixth, ahead of Luca Marini, Jorge Martin and Aleix Espargaro.
Fabio Quartararo has struggled all weekend and just scraped through to Q2, only to qualify in 10th.
The results of qualifying set the grid for the sprint race later on Saturday at 19:00 UK time, with the main race at the Autodromo Termas de Rio Hondo at 18:00 on Sunday.
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