Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) took a stunning 64th career pole at the Twin Ring Motegi, equaling the count of key rivals Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) and Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) as he readies for battle in Japan. The 9-time World Champion is Marquez’ closest challenger going into the race, 52 points back - and if the Spaniard wins, must score points. Feeling a little under the weather and having had a more difficult Friday, Rossi feels his pace is slightly less than that of Marquez and Lorenzo – but is a master of the Sunday turnaround and looks to close the gap to fight for the victory.
Valentino Rossi (Pole Position - 1:43.954): “In FP4 I improved the pace a lot and that’s very important for the race tomorrow. Me, Marquez and Lorenzo are strong – we’re close but it looks like Jorge and Marc are a little faster than me. So we need to work hard tonight to fix the tyres and hope the weather stays good tomorrow. I’m not at 100% because I push for a lot of laps I don’t feel at the maximum – over a lot of laps I feel quite sick and I’m worried about the race because it’s a lot of laps and very demanding.”