Marquez: “I knew it would be difficult!”

...but it’s pole number five at COTA after a last minute shootout with Viñales

Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) made it five in a row at the Circuit of the Americas as he took another stunning pole position, leaving it late to take to the top on his final attempt and knocking key rival Maverick Viñales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) back to P2.

Some crashes earlier in the day didn’t dampen the positivity, as the reigning Champion tried two distinct bikes and immediately made a decision on one – and had good pace on used tyres in FP4.

Marc Marquez, P1: “Today has been a really good day for us because yesterday I was struggling a bit with the front confidence, but today was better although FP3 doesn’t look good for me. The conditions this morning were really critical. My first crash was my mistake, but the second crash was really strange. Tomorrow we’ll see how the temperature is because that could decide the tyre for the race. I tried two different bikes today and immediately I said ‘ok, this one is for me!’, and in FP4 I had a good rhythm on the used tyre. In qualifying I knew it would be difficult to get pole position because the Yamahas are so fast on new tyres – but I found a way to improve a bit and being on pole is so nice.”