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It was a Saturday that Valentino Rossi is not likely to forget. At Mugello the Doctor could not have hoped for a better result in qualifying, taking the 63rd pole of his career, the second this season after the one at Jerez. If yesterday he had predicted the top five in order to set his sights on the win, today number 46 has all the benefits of his prediction.
He waited until the last lap, hunting down future teammate Vinales up close, just enough to make the difference in the third sector. It was precisely there that the nine-time world champion grabbed a pole position that he has been missing from Mugello since 2008: “We made some more accurate calculations than at Le Mans – the Yamaha standard bearer said – during FP4 we took a big step. I felt very good with the soft tyre, but now we need to think about the race.”
His pole position hung in the balance until the last second, because Maverick Vinales made life anything but easy for his future teammate. Only 94 thousandths kept him from the first spot on the grid: “I made a mistake on the last turn – he pointed out – in any case I'm pleased, because it was a good lap and so I have to be happy with the great performance of the team and myself.”
Andrea Iannone's Ducati is also on the front row. The rider from Vasto seemed to be the favourite for the pole, but then in the finale he had to deal with the competition, which relegated him to third place with a gap behind the leader of just over a tenth (+0.103).
"I expected to struggle in the flying lap because the front end slips. For the race I've got a good pace", the Maniaco commented.
Behind him will be Marc Marquez (+0.255). Despite a red helmet in the first sector, the Honda rider was slowed by traffic, still managing to finish ahead of his compatriot Jorge Lorenzo (+0.378).
It could be an uphill battle tomorrow for the Majorcan, who took a fifth best time far below his expectations, with a gap of three tenths behind Rossi. Another Suzuki will start alongside him, Aleix Espargarò's, (+0.682).
32 thousandths were enough for the Spaniard to get the better of his Honda-riding compatriot Daniel Pedrosa, whereas Danilo Petrucci finished ninth (+0.757). The Pramac standard bearer was the best of the Ducati foursome that includes his teammate Redding, Pirro and the Aspar machine ridden by Hernandez. No chance for Dovizioso, who did not go through to Q2.
