Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team RC213V) and team-mate Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team RC213V) qualified first and second for tomorrow’s Indianapolis Grand Prix, setting Honda up for one of the two wins needed to claim a record 700th GP victory, and boosting Marquez’s fight back in his title defence.

The two factory riders are both previous winners at the iconic Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where the infield circuit loops within the world-renowned banked oval.

Double champion Marquez had a troubled start to the season but has bounced back with pole position in the past two races, and his second win of the year at the last round in Germany. His Indy record is unmatched: he has won here for the past four years straight: twice in Moto2 and twice in MotoGP. He has started from pole position for the last three years.

The 22-year-old trails championship leader Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) by 65 points, but with nine races remaining he is confident he has every chance of closing the gap for a cliff-hanger season finale. A change of chassis two races ago has restored the dominant form that swept him to two straight championships, after previously securing both the 125 and Moto2 titles.

Pedrosa challenged strongly to steal pole from his younger Spanish compatriot, but a slip later on the lap cost him the two tenths that made the difference. The former 125 and double 250 champion retained a strong second place, with Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) joining the Repsol Honda pair on the front row.

Pedrosa has also claimed two wins at the US circuit, and is also regaining ground in the championship, after missing three races at the start of the year for remedial surgery for arm-pump.

Cal Crutchlow (CWM LCR Honda RC213V) leads the second row, the fourth time this year he has qualified fourth, in his first season with Honda. The former World 600 Supersport champion is one of two satellite-team riders campaigning the awesomely powerful Factory Option Honda, and aims to repeat his podium finish in Argentina.

The second satellite-team rider, Scott Redding (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda RC213V), narrowly missed a slot in the top-12 Q2 qualifying session, and will start from 13th place. The Englishman, runner up in the Moto2 class in 2013, is in his second Honda MotoGP season, but his first on a Factory Option bike.

Four more riders campaign the Open category Honda RC213V-RS, a close cousin of the Factory machine, with class rookie Jack Miller (CWM LCR Honda RC213V-RS) again the best of the quartet. The Australian qualified 16th, his best so far. He is also the top Open Honda rider in the championship.

Team-mates Eugene Laverty (Aspar Team Honda RC213V-RS) and Nicky Hayden (Aspar Team Honda RC213V-RS) qualified 19th and 20th, side by side on the seventh row of the grid. It is Laverty’s first visit to Indianapolis, but for Honda’s 2006 World Champion Hayden it is his home GP, closest to his Kentucky home.

Toni Elias (AB Motoracing Honda RC213V-RS) qualified 23rd. The Spaniard is riding in place of injured regular Karel Abraham. It is the former Moto2 champion’s first GP since 2012.



Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team: 1st – 1m 31.884s


“I’m happy because FP4 went very well. Maybe the six-tenths advantage isn’t completely ‘real’, and there is actually only one or two tenths difference, but the positive thing is that we managed to turn around the gap that we had to Jorge yesterday. There is still the warm-up tomorrow and I think everybody is improving, as the track condition is changing and we have to continue to adapt to it. Right now Jorge is the toughest rival and we must be vigilant.”

Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team: 2nd – 1m 32.055s

“Today we worked a lot with the tyres, because at the moment my race pace is slower than that of Marc and Jorge. In the qualifying session I was able to do quite well. With the second tyre I had a good feeling, but I made some mistakes in some sections of the circuit and I tried to do an extra lap – which didn’t go so well. I’m happy to get a place on the front row, so we will continue working hard to try and gain a few tenths for tomorrow, because there are a couple of sectors – the first two – in which I am losing some time. We shall see if we can improve my riding and increase the grip a little, so that tomorrow we can be in the fight for the win.”

Cal Crutchlow, CWM LCR: 4th, 1m 32.208s

“I wanted to improve in free practice four but we made a step in the wrong direction. We had to stick with it and see the session out. We need to gain some time in a few areas but I’m quite confident for tomorrow’s race. The hard tyre we have some issue with in certain points of the track, but we need to work on that because Marc has such a massive advantage on everyone else. Also Dani is really fast. He did the whole free practice on a used tyre and he was nearly as fast as Marc on an average lap time. We need to improve but there seems to be a lot of guys around the same lap time. I’m disappointed to be fourth because I’ve had four or five fourth places already this year and haven’t been on the front row. This track doesn’t suit my style with the Honda. At the moment I don’t have the best feeling. I need to improve in some areas myself too.”

Scott Redding, Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS: 13th, 1m 33.170s

“This morning wasn’t too bad but I was struggling a bit on corner entry. We thought that we had been going the right way with setup, but today, everything seems to be doing something, and not in a good way. I’ve less front grip, I’m struggling with the rear and I’m a bit lost and more than a little annoyed. The race pace isn’t too bad but the biggest problem I’ve got at the moment is with the new tyre.”

Jack Miller, CWM LCR: 16th, 1m 33.381s

“I’m pretty happy with how everything went. It’s the best grid position that we’ve had so far, and it’s probably the most comfortable I’ve been on the bike in a long time. I’m having fun again riding again. We put a new tyre on and it was just one of those laps. You’re pushing to see how fast you can go. We put the pedal down, and definitely I think we’ll be able to back that up in the race tomorrow. The summer break was good to get home and see the family but after a week or two of being at home you want to get back here. I’m happy to be back and riding a bike, that’s for sure. We’ve changed the bike this weekend and every session we seem to be getting better and better. We’ve been lacking a lot of front feeling the past couple of races so I’m really happy to be getting it back.”

Eugene Laverty, Aspar Team: 19th, 1m 33.978s

“It wasn’t a fantastic qualifying position but it was positive after yesterday when I made some progress. We made some more progress this morning. I didn’t get that one lap time like some of the other guys but I’m feeling quite comfortable on the bike compared to the previous rounds. I feel comfortable doing one lap after the other. It would have been nice to have been on the sixth row. It’s a long way back as it is, but our rhythm is pretty good and I feel comfortable on the bike for the first time in a while. My rhythm is consistent so my aim is to try and fight with the guys. I want to fight for that ‘Open’ class win in the second half of the year. It’s not out of reach.”

Nicky Hayden, Aspar Team: 20th, 1m 34.030s

“We thought we had found a direction yesterday afternoon. This morning we went backwards a little bit. Qualifying obviously didn’t go very good so we’re starting a long way back. It’s definitely not where you want to start here, especially with turn two, three and four being so tight. It is what it is. We’ll see what we can do tomorrow. We need to try and find some edge grip, especially around the long corners. That’s where I’m struggling the most. It does hurt the turning. I keep running wide in the long corners. We’ll try to improve that and try to do something better tomorrow that we did today.

Toni Elias, AB Motoracing: 23rd, 1m 35.167s

“It has been great because to ride a MotoGP bike again is amazing. I did many laps in the first free practice. After that I started to work on the setup for more turning and front feeling. Also I needed more power in acceleration. After that I had too much power! We improved a lot but I need to improve more. My last time on a MotoGP machine was a long time ago, so the bike is different. I like the chassis and we only need to improve the electronics. But I’m really enjoying it. For the moment this is only for one race. I’ll try to enjoy this weekend. After this I hope another opportunity will arrive.”


Qualifying position  

1 Marc Marquez 1'31.884 ESP HONDA Repsol Honda Team 
2 Dani Pedrosa 1'32.055 ESP HONDA Repsol Honda Team
3 Jorge Lorenzo 1'32.186 ESP YAMAHA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP
4 Cal Crutchlow 1'32.208 GBR HONDA CWM LCR Honda
5 Danilo Petrucci 1'32.243 ITA DUCATI Pramac Racing
6 Bradley Smith 1'32.269 GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
7 Andrea Iannone 1'32.468 ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
8 Valentino Rossi 1'32.511 ITA YAMAHA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP
9 Maverick Vinales 1'32.571 ESP SUZUKI Team Suzuki MotoGP
10 Andrea Dovizioso 1'32.636 ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
11 Pol Espargaro 1'32.670 ESP YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
12 Aleix Espargaro 1'32.814 ESP SUZUKI Team Suzuki MotoGP
13 Scott Redding 1'33.170 GBR HONDA Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS
14 Hector Barbera 1'33.199 ESP AVINTIA Avintia Racing
15 Yonny Hernandez 1'33.278 COL DUCATI Pramac Racing
16 Jack Miller 1'33.381 AUS HONDA CWM LCR Honda
17 Stefan Bradl 1'33.822 GER FORWARD YAMAHA Forward Racing
18 Alvaro Bautista 1'33.839 ESP APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini
19 Eugene Laverty 1'33.978 HONDA Drive M7 Aspar
20 Nicky Hayden 1'34.030 USA HONDA Drive M7 Aspar
21 Alex de Angelis 1'34.226 ART Octo IodaRacing Team
22 Mike De Meglio 1'34.322 FRA AVINTIA Avintia Racing

Championship standings  

1 Valentino Rossi 179 pts ITA YAMAHA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 
2 Jorge Lorenzo 166 pts ESP YAMAHA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP
3 Andrea Iannone 118 pts ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
4 Marc Marquez 114 pts ESP HONDA Repsol Honda Team
5 Andrea Dovizioso 87 pts ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
6 Bradley Smith 87 pts GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
7 Dani Pedrosa 67 pts ESP HONDA Repsol Honda Team
8 Cal Crutchlow 66 pts GBR HONDA CWM LCR Honda
9 Pol Espargaro 64 pts ESP YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
10 Maverick Vinales 57 pts ESP SUZUKI Team Suzuki MotoGP
11 Danilo Petrucci 51 pts ITA DUCATI Pramac Racing
12 Aleix Espargaro 44 pts ESP SUZUKI Team Suzuki MotoGP
13 Yonny Hernandez 32 pts COL DUCATI Pramac Racing
14 Scott Redding 30 pts GBR HONDA Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS
15 Hector Barbera 19 pts ESP AVINTIA Avintia Racing
16 Loris Baz 14 pts FORWARD YAMAHA Forward Racing
17 Alvaro Bautista 13 pts ESP APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini
18 Jack Miller 12 pts AUS HONDA CWM LCR Honda
19 Stefan Bradl 9 pts GER FORWARD YAMAHA Forward Racing
20 Michele Pirro 8 pts ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
21 Nicky Hayden 8 pts USA HONDA Drive M7 Aspar
22 Eugene Laverty 7 pts HONDA Drive M7 Aspar
23 Hiroshi Aoyama 5 pts JPN HONDA Repsol Honda Team
24 Mike De Meglio 2 pts FRA AVINTIA Avintia Racing
25 Alex de Angelis 1 pts ART Octo IodaRacing Team
26 Karel Abraham 0 pts CZE HONDA AB Motoracing
27 Michael Laverty 0 pts APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini
28 Marco Melandri 0 pts APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini