Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa will start from the second row of the grid at the Gran Premio TIM di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini, in fourth and fifth.

This will be only the second time this season that a bike other than a Repsol Honda RC213V will start from pole position with Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) claiming the top spot. Marquez chose to focus on race pace as opposed to qualifying speed after effectively losing FP1 and FP2 due to rain on Friday.

This is the first time since the Catalunya Grand Prix last year that Marquez starts off the front row. The MotoGP World Championship leader will start from fourth on the grid, a time of 1’33.360s putting him just 0.058s behind Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) and only 0.122s from Lorenzo on pole.

Teammate Pedrosa starts just behind in fifth and also 0.058s slower than Marquez. Times across qualifying were incredibly tight, the top ten split by just 0.757s. Pedrosa has been within the top five every session and should be a threat come the race on Sunday.

“This is the first time this season that I've been off the front row, maybe because we haven't yet found the best setup for this circuit. However, we still have the Warm Up tomorrow in which to try things out and improve,” said Marquez.

He continued, “Yesterday's practice sessions were both wet, so that is why today we found it a little difficult to find the optimal setup. Nevertheless, I am happy because I felt fairly comfortable on the bike - which is important for the race - but we will have to fight hard to finish on the podium.”

Pedrosa reflected,

"I had a very good feeling today in Misano, although this isn't shown by my position on the grid for tomorrow. The times today have been very close between everyone, but tomorrow in the end we start from the second row. I'll have to get a very good start and push on the opening laps. It will also be important to make the right choice with the front tyre, because that will be the key to the race. We will have to fight to the maximum, because this is a very long race."



.