‘King of the Ring’ Marquez Rides to Ninth Consecutive MotoGP Pole at Sachsenring

It was all or nothing for Marquez, who narrowly beat Danilo Petrucci and Jorge Lorenzo.
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Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez continues to sweep the 2018 MotoGP season, this time by claiming his ninth pole position at the famous Sachsenring in Germany. The Spaniard beat Pramac’s Danilo Petrucci by just 0.025 seconds, and Ducati’s Jorge Lorenzo by 0.032.

The session got off to an exciting start for Yamaha fans, as Maverick Vinales quickly secured the provisional pole and beat Marquez’s pole lap record from 2015. However, Jorge Lorenzo and his red Ducati had different plans, and together with Petrucci began edging closer and closer to the Yamaha rider’s best lap time.

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Danilo Petrucci., MotoGP

With the session’s time running out, Marquez, who is now dubbed the “King of the Ring,” put in a personal best second sector and then a red third one —meaning he was up on the previous best overall. But it was mere hundredths and it went right down to the wire, with a solid final sector seeing Marquez beat the rest of the field. Vinales was eventually demoted to fourth place on the grid.

After the climactic qualifying session, it’s Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso and Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi who wrap up the top six, which is composed of a Honda, Ducati (satellite), Ducati, Yamaha, Ducati, and Yamaha.

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GETTY

“Qualifying was positive,” said Vinales. “Honestly, the first run was really good. On the second run I tried to push, but the front tire was already a bit used, so that made it more difficult. I think it was possible today to make the pole, but we are mostly focused on tomorrow anyway. We have some things we want to improve tonight and let’s see. We’re going to work on the electronics and also my riding style, so I think we can improve.”

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MotoGP
 
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