Marquez scores pole for COTA ahead of Rossi & Crutchlow

MotoGP 2019 – Round Three
COTA Qualifying

Marc Marquez – P1

“I’m happy to be on pole position but for tomorrow nothing is certain yet. Today we were fastest and got pole, but no one knows about race pace or tyres yet as we lost FP3. We will have to work well in Warm Up to make up for the time we sadly lost to the weather. After Warm Up we will know more but there are many people who could be in the fight.”

Valentino Rossi – P2

“It looks like, from the Argentina GP onwards, we’ve been going about it in the right way, and also this weekend we’ve been working well with the team. Today was a difficult day, because this morning we didn’t do the FP3 session. Still I feel comfortable with the bike, also in the half-and-half conditions of FP4, in which we usually tend to suffer. Today, the bike gave me better feedback, so I could push in a better way. In the qualifying I was strong. I’m very happy to start from the front row, because it’s very important for tomorrow. Now we wait to see what the conditions will be like for the race, and then we will try to make the right tyre choice.”

Cal Crutchlow – P3

“Maybe it’s old age, with Valentino (Rossi) in second and me in third, maybe we’re coming back round again with age! I feel good, although I was not overly pleased with my lap, I lost the front three times in one lap. We changed the setting from yesterday, but because we didn’t have the morning session (FP3) we needed to use the qualifying as a little bit of a test and I lost the front in all the hairpin corners. I was angry with the lap because of myself as I pushed a lot in the braking zone. I’m happy enough though, nobody is anywhere near Marc (Marquez), you saw him in the damp session and he was two seconds clear. But we did a good job and the team is working very well. I’m happy with the team, happy with the bike, everything is going well and I look forward to tomorrow.”

Jack Miller – P4

“The wind during the Q2 was really strong and it was very difficult to make the perfect lap. All things considered we did a very positive qualifying and that’s why I’m satisfied. Tomorrow it won’t be easy to choose the tyres because we had not the possibility to make enough laps today. We are starting from a good position and there is a lot of confidence”.

Pol Espargaro – P5

“It was a complicated day. Tricky in the morning then there was a lot of wind. Thanks in the end to Maverick [Viñales] who pushing in front of me and we could do a good lap-time. Just amazing. To get the time you needed to push to the limit and I was over it sometimes! But it worked and a good lap appeared on my dashboard. We have to be realistic tomorrow and I will enjoy the start, take a good rhythm and a good spot in the race and my group.”

Maverick Vinales – P6

“It was really difficult today in qualifying. Honestly, I didn’t expect the wind would affect the bike’s behaviour so much, it was very difficult to turn in the corners and the bike was very aggressive, moving all the time. I couldn’t push, because I wasn’t feeling at my best. We hope to improve tomorrow and be better during the race. I had many scary moments during qualifying. We need to learn from today, so we won’t have the same problem on another windy day.”

Alex Rins – P7

“I’m happy to start on the third row, and my race pace wasn’t bad. I think we’ve made a big improvement over the weekend and we’ll continue to push. Every time I go on track I give 100%, and that can bring varying results depending on the situation, but I’ll try to enjoy tomorrow and bring a lot of points home.”

Danilo Petrucci – P8

“It’s been a rather unusual day. After missing FP3 and encountering tricky conditions in FP4, we were only able to ride on a dry track for qualifying,and we had to go ‘all in’ in Q1. I’m happy to have made it through, even though I’m sorry Andrea was left out. In Q2, I could have done a slightly faster lap, but we still have work to do to improve first and foremost in terms of pace. All in all, third row doesn’t compromise our chances to do well in the race and take home important points, so I’m confident ahead of tomorrow.”

Fabio Quartararo – P9

“It was a day of very complicated weather conditions. We went out for FP4 with wet tyres, but the track was partially dry in places, so it was difficult to understand the best way to ride. We started off with a full tank and were not very confident. Going into Q2 without 100% confidence is not ideal, but finishing ninth is a good result: It’s a spot on the third row, so I’m very happy with the work that we’ve done at this difficult circuit. I know that it is a very demanding track over 20 laps, but we have a good pace – not like the front-runners have, but we are well placed to fight for the Top 10 and to be the top rookie. The main thing is to enjoy the race.”

Franco Morbidelli – P10

“We could say that the cancellation of FP3 completely altered our plan for today. We tried something different with our setup in terms of weight distribution, but really I was only able to test it out in Q2 as that was the only fully dry session; the mixed conditions in FP4 didn’t allow us to draw any conclusions. It was good for us, but not for the feeling of the bike, because we couldn’t push it to the limit and it wasn’t a true demonstration of our potential. Unfortunately, I had to discover that it didn’t work as we expected in Q2. We finished tenth, which isn’t bad. The warmup will be very important for getting our feeling back and improving a little more. In the race, we will have to get a good start. Tomorrow it will be important to have the feeling I had yesterday -or better.”

Jorge Lorenzo – P11

“A challenging day today with the weather where we unfortunately lost some time. I was feeling strong in Q1 and pushed hard to get through then we had an issue in Q2 which upset our plan. The other bike had a different setting as we are trying a lot of different things so we couldn’t unlock our full potential. Tomorrow will be a physical race, it always is here.“

Pecco Bagnaia – P12

“I honestly can’t explain the two crashes. All I know is that they were identical and that is why we need to see the data to understand what happened. The feeling was not the same as on Friday. I am still confident because this problem only occurs in two corners and in the rest of the circuit I feel very fast. I just hope that tomorrow there will be no strong wind”.

Andrea Dovizioso – P13

“Today’s qualifying was quite tricky. Track conditions were very precarious, and we also struggled more than we expected in the faster corners due to the strong winds. It’s a shame we couldn’t get into Q2, because I’m sure we could have recovered some more positions on the grid, but we need to look forward anyway. Unfortunately, the weather hasn’t allowed us to work on our race setup today, but we know our potential. We want, and we can, bounce back. It’ll be essential to get a good start, then we’ll try, as usual, to bring home the best possible result.”

Joan Mir  – P14

“I’m in good shape and my speed is good. Today I was very close to Q2 but I missed out. Anyway I’m still happy with my pace, I’m not too far from the top. I’ll try to recover positions tomorrow in the race, and my goal is to learn about the riders around me and to get the best result possible.”

Takaaki Nakagami – P15

“I think the weather made it really complicated for everybody. Yesterday we finished outside of the top 10 in P15, then FP3 was cancelled so we didn’t have any further chance to improve (ahead of qualifying). FP4 was in mixed conditions and at the end of the session we tested with slick tyres to prepare for Q1. Q1 was difficult for me and this strong wind didn’t help either. We struggled to make a lap time with the new tyres and it’s been hard so far this weekend. But qualifying is gone now, so we’re preparing for the race and I think race distance will suit us better than the qualifying lap. Of course we’re quite disappointed with our performance today and yesterday, but we’ll focus on tomorrow and stay strong to try and get a good result.”

Aleix Espargaro – P16

“It was a bit of a strange day because of the weather. Before the qualifiers, we were only able to lap in the last part of FP4, so we’ll only have tomorrow morning to get the bike ready for the race. Considering our level in terms of pace, we can hope for a better race than the qualifiers and aim for the top ten, although it won’t be easy because we know that this is not a very friendly track for us.”

Andrea Iannone – P17

“Not a simple day. I particularly struggled in qualifying with the soft tyre. The balance of the bike changes a lot when the grip conditions change, and it makes a big difference here. We need to stay positive. Right now, getting to the point where we have a bike that is easier to ride is more important than the result. I am giving it my all, trying to ride as cleanly as I can, and I am sure that by working hard in every session, we will be able to improve the bike.”

Miguel Oliveira – P18

“It has been a tough day. We started FP4 with half and half conditions, so finally we were lucky to have a dry session in Qualifying. It was difficult with the wind and the track not fully dry. We could confirm different things we tested on the bike to be able to start again tomorrow with a stronger pace. At least the position today was much better than yesterday. We are just outside of our target, but we keep calm for tomorrow, as we will have a very, very long race, physically demanding, so we will try to manage it the best.”

Johann Zarco – P19

“I hate starting from 19th position and to fight the bike, and it has been complicated to understand this and get better. I have to accept it at the moment. My team know we cannot get the solution right now. I have tried to adapt but I cannot change everything so it’s a difficult time.”

Hafizh Syahrin – P21

“Yesterday afternoon I had a really good feeling with the KTM, so we used the same setup in Qualifying, but I don’t understand why I didn’t have the same sensations, as I was struggling to stop and to turn the bike. To be honest, I’m a bit disappointed about this feeling, because I thought we could improve our time a bit more. To start in P21 is not, what I was wishing for, but we keep pushing and learning and try to push even more come race day. I aim to find a good pace in Warm Up and hope I can stay inside a good group of riders to do a strong race like in Argentina last time.”

2019 Cota MotoGP Qualifying Times

MotoGP weekend schedule
Times in AEST