Iannone earns Ducati pole as Marquez falters

Andrea Iannone overcame injury to put Ducati on pole position for the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello while world champion Marc Marquez struggled.

The Italian, riding with a hairline fracture to his shoulder, claimed his maiden premier class pole position with the fastest ever MotoGP lap around Mugello.

Iannone’s 1:46.489s was 0.095s quicker than Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo, who had topped the majority of the session, having set record pace in free practice.

It proved to be Ducati’s first pole position at its home circuit since Casey Stoner’s triumph in 2007.

Andrea Dovizioso completed a strong day for Ducati with the Italian securing the final place on the front row of the grid in third.

While Ducati starred, Marquez endured a difficult day which began with the Spaniard missing the cut in practice to claim a place in Q2.

Worse was to follow with the Honda man eclipsed by Yonny Hernandez and Aleix Espargaro in Q1, leaving him to start from a lowly 13th on the grid.

Cal Crutchlow emerged in fourth position with another impressive performance on the satellite LCR Honda ahead of Suzuki’s Aleix Espargaro, who showed no signs of the thumb injury he is carrying.

The third Ducati of Michele Piro was sixth 0.005s in front of Honda’s Dani Pedrosa.

Local hero Valentino Rossi was unable to match the pace of the front runners which left the nine-time world champion in eighth.

Suzuki’s Maverick Vinales was ninth while Tech 3 Yamaha’s Pol Espargaro completed the top 10.

Australia’s Jack Miller will start Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix from 23rd on the grid for LCR Honda.

Result: MotoGP Italian Grand Prix Qualifying, Mugello 

Position	Rider	Team	Time	Gap
1	Andrea Iannone	Ducati	1:46.489s	–
2	Jorge Lorenzo	Yamaha	1:46.584s	0.095s
3	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	1:46.610s	0.121s
4	Cal Crutchlow	LCR Honda	1:46.657s	0.168s
5	Aleix Espargaro	Suzuki	1:46.854s	0.365s
6	Michele Pirro	Ducati	1:46.870s	0.381s
7	Daniel Pedrosa	Honda	1:46.875s	0.386s
8	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	1:46.923s	0.434s
9	Maverick Vinales	Suzuki	1:46.934s	0.445s
10	Pol Espargaro	Tech 3 Yamaha	1:47.050s	0.561s
11	Bradley Smith	Tech 3 Yamaha	1:47.090s	0.601s
12	Yonny Hernandez	Pramac Racing Ducati	1:47.423s	0.934s
13	Marc Marquez	Honda	1:47.240s	Q1
14	Danilo Petrucci	Pramac Racing Ducati	1:47.497s	Q1
15	Hector Barbera	Avintia Racing Ducati	1:47.978s	Q1
16	Stefan Bradl	Forward Racing Yamaha	1:48.047s	Q1
17	Scott Redding	Marc VDS Honda	1:48.120s	Q1
18	Loris Baz	Forward Racing Yamaha	1:48.133s	Q1
19	Nicky Hayden	Aspar Honda	1:48.298s	Q1
20	Karel Abraham	AB Motoracing Honda	1:48.366s	Q1
21	Alvaro Bautista	Aprilia Gresini	1:48.477s	Q1
22	Mike Di Meglio	Avintia Racing	1:48.503s	Q1
23	Jack Miller	LCR Honda	1:48.572s	Q1
24	Eugene Laverty	Aspar Honda	1:48.638s	Q1
25	Alex de Angelis	IodaRacing Project	1:49.198s	Q1
26	Marco Melandri	Aprilia Gresini	1:51.391s	Q1