Magnificent Mugello Pole For Iannone

May 30, 2015
4 min read

Andrea Iannone won the hearts of all MotoGP fans after his heroic duel with Marc Marquez at Le Mans two weeks ago whilst suffering from a dislocated shoulder. Fast-forward two weeks to today, and the Italian has to contend with a fracture in his shoulder. So you'd think pole position would be a little out of reach for him, right? Well, they don't call him the 'Maniac' for no good reason. Ducati's first pole at Mugello since 2007 went to Iannone after a sensational record-breaking lap in the final minutes of QP2.

Jorge Lorenzo's 1:46.617 from FP3 looked untouchable, but Iannone dug deep and produced a 1:46.489. Yes, he was running the soft rear tyre, but Ducati were very quick on on the medium front/medium rear combination yesterday, so this is in no way a fluke result. Of course, it remains to be seen whether Iannone's shoulder will be hold up to the punishment of 23 tours of the Mugello circuit tomorrow.

Lorenzo improved on his record FP3 time by a tenth, and any other day that would have been job done. The Movistar Yamaha rider is the meat in a GP15 sandwich, with previous pole favourite Andrea Dovizioso completing the top three.

Cal Crutchlow put in a stellar qualifying performance to go 4th quickest and just 0.168 off of pole. Rightfully, he looked rather chirpy when he returned to the CWM LCR Honda box, and for good reason; He is top Honda rider on the grid. Aleix Espargaro had to go through QP1, but made it through easily and put his GSX-RR a very credible 5th considering his injury and the bikes' lack of horsepower. He made most of his time through the twisty bits, which was evident through sector two as both Suzuki's tooped the split-times. Maverick Vinales will start 9th.

Valentino Rossi needed to get onto the front two rows today, but instead will start 8th. Yes, he has won the last three of his race-winning races from 8th, but he has Lorenzo and the Ducatis in front of him. The race pace is there, but he needs Iannone and Dovizioso to hold Lorenzo at bay whilst he climbs through the field.

Michele Pirro returns to action this weekend as a wild-card rider for the factory Ducati team, and put his GP15 6th. Yonny Hernandez was the final Ducati in the top twelve in 12th. The Pramac rider made a bit of a hero of himself in QP1 when he shocked the paddock by knocking Marc Marquez out of qualifying, but failed to make an impact in QP2.

Marquez, incidentally, will start 13th after a very difficult day for himself and the Repsol Honda Team. He tested different swingarms on Friday in an attempt to find rear-end stability. Deciding upon the newer version, FP3 looked promising. FP4 proved otherwise. A crash at turn one on his number one bike was the start of his troubles. Then, on his first flying lap in QP1, he had a big rear-end snap and ran wide at the same corner. He got two more laps in, but none were solid. He'll have his work cut out tomorrow, and Honda will have theirs cut out for the rest of the season. Team-mate Dani Pedrosa was a respectable 7th as he strives to return to full fitness.

The Tech 3 boys were a shoe-in for a second row start following Friday's sessions. The Satellite M1 has a very good base setting which the riders can adjust without massively altering the characteristics of the bike to any detriment. But, for whatever reason, they failed to make any big gains and will start 10th and 11th, Espargaro ahead of Smith.

Danilo Petrucci will start his home race, which he missed last year as a result of injury, 14th. A little off the pace, but the Pramac rider has been comfortably inside the top ten for much of this weekend, so a good result is still there for the taking.

Hector Barbera was top open rider on the Avintia Ducati, and Marco Melandri completes the field in 25th.

Andrea Iannone claimed his first pole since 2010, Ducati's first at Mugello since 2010 – a circuit where he took his first front row start in MotoGP last year, and took his last win at in 2012. Add in the fact that he is officially the fastest ever rider in MotoGP history after going 217.9mph in FP4 and you've got probably the best circumstances possible to claim a maiden premier class victory.

Tomorrow's Grand Prix may very well be the best we've ever seen.

Qualifying: The Grid

1st Andrea Iannone, Ducati Team, 1:46.489 (Lap Record)

2nd Jorge Lorenzo, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP, 1:46.584

3rd Andrea Dovizioso, Ducati Team, 1:46.610

4th Cal Crutchlow, CWM LCR Honda, 1:46.657

5th Aleix Espargaro, Team Suzuki Ecstar, 1:46.854

6th Michele Pirro, Ducati Team, 1:46.870

7th Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team, 1:46.875

8th Valentino Rossi, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP, 1:46.923

9th Maverick Vinales, Team Suzuki Ecstar, 1:46.934

10th Pol Espargaro, Monster Yamaha Tech 3, 1:47.050