Following up his first win on a Ducati, Jorge Lorenzo secured the pole position for the 2018 MotoGP Valencia Grand Prix starting tomorrow. The Spaniard beat Honda's Marc Marquez to take the pole in qualifying earlier today with a lead of just 0.066s in the Q2. Starting third will be Andrea Dovizioso on the second Ducati, who completed the lap 0.243s behind the pole-sitter. Lorenzo, who has been signed on by Honda for the next season, was dominant through the qualifying stages right from the start and was in the lead during the Q2 as well. Marquez, meanwhile, made a late resurgence in qualifying to the top spots after a late crash in FP3.
Dovizioso starts third behind Marquez in the Catalunya GP
The Spaniard ended his run in the opening segment of qualifying with a lead and improved his time over the following laps of Q1. With Lorenzo in the lead of Q2, Marquez was quick enough to pass his future teammate with a time of 1m38.886s, which remained the benchmark for the next couple of laps. However, the record was later shattered by Dovizioso by a lead of 0.037s. Marquez further improved his time over the Ducati with a time of 1m38.746s. However, Lorenzo was in no mood to let the pole position go out of his hands and secured the top spot with a time of 1m38.680s with a flying lap in the final stages. Meanwhile, Maverick Vinales was on the best of the two Yamahas and will be starting fourth, 0.003s ahead of Suzuki's Andrea Iannone. Pramac Ducati's Danilo Petrucci will start sixth, ahead of Yamaha's Valentino Rossi, Johann Zarco (Tech3 Yamaha) and Tito Rabat (Avintia Ducati), the latter's best grid spot since qualifying fourth in Argentina earlier this season.
Marc Marquez saved a nasty crash during the FP3 earlier in the day
The final spot on the top 10 list was taken by LCR Honda's Cal Crutchlow, who qualified after a late crash during session but finished a tenth of a second ahead of Honda's Dani Pedrosa. LCR's Takaaki Nakagami will start 12th tomorrow, beating Pramac Ducati's Jack Miller in the fight for second during Q1.
Lorenzo seems to have finally found the pace on the Ducati, but maybe a little too late. That said, the fastest bikes on the grid are separated by just 0.243s, and that should make for an interesting duel tomorrow. Keep watching this space for all the action from the 2018 Catalunya GP.
