Viñales pole, remarkable Rossi on front row

Maverick Viñales has taken pole position for the Aragon Grand Prix as Valentino Rossi qualified third in a shock return from a broken leg.

Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team) split the two Movistar Yamahas on the front row, while a late crash consigned Marc Marquez to fifth.

Marquez had clocked the first lap in the 1:47s bracket of the weekend during his first run, but pushed too hard into Turn 12 during his second run and lost the front end of his Repsol Honda.

The defending MotoGP champion had been first placed and on track to go even faster at the time.

That opened the door for Viñales to take pole position, but only after Rossi had held top spot for a handful of seconds.

Rossi had not even been expected to ride in Aragon having broken his right leg in a motocross crash just 23 days earlier.

“I think we did a great job after the injury,” said the Italian.

“I have to thank all the guys that helped me, the doctor that made the surgery Raffaelle (Pascarella) was great, and after every day I work very hard with Carlo (Casabianca, trainer).

“The leg is coming better every day, and since I’ve been on the bike I feel some pain but I can ride quite comfortably.

“I am very happy; (it’s) very important to start from the front row.

“Now we have to try to understand the pace, try to understand also if I’m able to push to the end, but anyway I’m happy.”

Viñales, whose pole was his second straight and fifth of the season, reflected on the fact that he had qualified fastest on home soil for the first time.

“I’m really happy, the bike is working well, the team is working really good,” he said.

“(I’m) so happy to make my first pole in (a) Spanish grand prix; honestly the crowd, the fans are amazing, so I’m so pleased and happy for all of them.”

Row 2 will be Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) and the Repsol Hondas of Marquez and Dani Pedrosa.

Andrea Dovizioso, second in the championship on a countback, will line up in seventh on his factory Ducati, next to Aleix Espargaro (Gresini Aprilia) and Alvaro Bautista (Aspar Ducati).

Andrea Iannone (Suzuki Ecstar), Johann Zarco (Tech 3 Yamaha), and Mika Kallio (Red Bull KTM), make up Row 4.

Kallio, a wildcard, was clearly faster than his full-time team-mates Pol Espargaro and Bradley Smith, who qualified 14th and 23rd respectively.

Jack Miller (Marc VDS Honda) fell just 0.009s short of passage to Q2 when he was pipped by Zarco in the first part of qualifying, and will start 13th.

Sunday’s 23-lap race starts at 2200 AEST.

Qualifying: Aragon Grand Prix

Pos	Num	Rider	Nat	Team	Bike	Time	Gap 1st/prev
1	25	Maverick VIÑALES	SPA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	1’47.635
2	99	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	Ducati Team	Ducati	1’47.735	0.100 / 0.100
3	46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	1’47.815	0.180 / 0.080
4	35	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	LCR Honda	Honda	1’47.830	0.195 / 0.015
5	93	Marc MARQUEZ	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	1’47.963	0.328 / 0.133
6	26	Dani PEDROSA	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	1’48.107	0.472 / 0.144
7	04	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	1’48.137	0.502 / 0.030
8	41	Aleix ESPARGARO	SPA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	1’48.159	0.524 / 0.022
9	19	Alvaro BAUTISTA	SPA	Pull&Bear Aspar Team	Ducati	1’48.187	0.552 / 0.028
10	29	Andrea IANNONE	ITA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	1’48.289	0.654 / 0.102
11	5	Johann ZARCO	FRA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	1’48.402	0.767 / 0.113
12	36	Mika KALLIO	FIN	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	1’48.471	0.836 / 0.069
13	43	Jack MILLER	AUS	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda	1’48.307	Q1 / Q1
14	44	Pol ESPARGARO	SPA	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	1’48.387	Q1 / 0.080
15	17	Karel ABRAHAM	CZE	Pull&Bear Aspar Team	Ducati	1’48.467	Q1 / 0.080
16	9	Danilo PETRUCCI	ITA	OCTO Pramac Racing	Ducati	1’48.908	Q1 / 0.441
17	76	Loris BAZ	FRA	Reale Avintia Racing	Ducati	1’48.911	Q1 / 0.003
18	94	Jonas FOLGER	GER	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	1’49.034	Q1 / 0.123
19	8	Hector BARBERA	SPA	Reale Avintia Racing	Ducati	1’49.052	Q1 / 0.018
20	42	Alex RINS	SPA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	1’49.233	Q1 / 0.181
21	53	Tito RABAT	SPA	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda	1’49.258	Q1 / 0.025
22	45	Scott REDDING	GBR	OCTO Pramac Racing	Ducati	1’49.288	Q1 / 0.030
23	38	Bradley SMITH	GBR	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	1’49.578	Q1 / 0.290
24	22	Sam LOWES	GBR	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	1’50.769	Q1 / 1.191