The Spaniard has from every previous pole start, and once more beside. Leading the championship, he was confident he might do it again at this scenic and spectacular track, overlooked by the Apennine mountains, and enjoying a prolonged spell of blazing sunshine.
But for Rossi, three tenths behind, second on the grid was triumphantly more than he could have expected. A few days before he hadn’t even been sure he’d be able to race, having beaten himself up badly in a motocross crash the Thursday after Le Mans two weeks ago.
Then he crashed in FP4, going into a corner fractionally off line and touching the rear brake. But he didn’t aggravate his injuries, and he’d already proved how fast he could be, topping the time sheets in the crucial first three free practices. “Unfortunately I made a stupid mistake and slid; fortunately it was no problem. It was my second bike, so I didn’t damage the right bike.”
The partisan crowd cheered him to the echo; meanwhile his compatriots Andrea Dovizioso and Michele Pirro got on with business, taking the next two slots. Factory tester Pirro is a wild card, and will lead row two from the Repsol Hondas – Dani Pedrosa marginally faster than Marc Marquez, who didn’t manage to find a clear run when he needed to. Marquez had been second to Rossi in the free practices.
Jorge Lorenzo enjoyed the Ducati home-track effect; placed seventh ahead of Alvaro Bautista’s older Ducati; with Danilo Petrucci’s newer Duke alongside.
Tito Rabat (EG-VDS Honda) was a career-best tenth after following close friend Marquez in free practice to get directly into Q2 for the first time.
Zarco came through from Q1, where he waited until the last minute before going straight to the lead, but couldn’t repeat his time in Q2, ending up 11th, with Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) 12th, after crashing early in the session.
Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) was best of the rest, his first time not to make it into Q2.
Jack Miller qualified 19th, still somewhat troubled after his big crash at Le Mans. “I usually brake with one finger, but because my hand’s a bit weak I have to use two, and I’m struggling a bit,” he said.
Moto2 pole was between the EG-VDS team-mates who have won all the races so far between them.
Franco Morbidelli has taken for of them, Alex Marquez just one – and it was Morbidelli who snatched pole at the last gasp with a canny slip-stream. He was just 0.036 of a second ahead and rather surprised after struggling somewhat. The chance to win at home would be great, he said, “but I must also remember the championship and think of the points.”
Marquez in turn was bullish, pointing out he had set his lap time alone, without a slipstream.
Veteran Mattia Pasini (Italtrans Kalex) was third; Thomas Luthi, Takaaki Nakagami and Rossi’s half-brother Luca Marini made an all-Kalex second row.
In fact the first non-Kalex was Miguel Oliveira’s KTM in ninth.
Remy Gardner had the best day of his GP career to date, qualified 11th on the Tech 3, although falling unhurt at the end, pushing for further improvement. “I feel like I have found myself on the bike this weekend and my ankle is healing up a lot better which is really positive,” he said.
Moto3 ended up with some confusion that may continue until tomorrow, with three riders penalised by 12 grid positions for riding too slowly too often.
One was Jorge Martin (Gresini Honda), who will start from 13th in spite of having snitched fastest time at the end.
This handed a second pole of the year to John McPhee, with Fabio Di Giannantonio promoted to third on an all-Honda front row. Between them, runaway title leader Joan Mir, who bounced back at the end after falling on his out lap before setting a time, giving his Leopard team mechanics a busy 20 minutes putting his bike together again.
Likewise for fifth-placed Nicolo Bulega (SKY-VR46 KTM), though he had set his time before a massive highside. Guevara was alongside on another KTM, then Romano Fenati’s Honda.
Qualifying was run in hot sunny conditions, with more of the same forecast for tomorrow.
by Michael Scott
