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Indianapolis MotoGP: Marc Marquez sets stunning pace to take pole

Marc Marquez demolished the previous Indianapolis MotoGP record as he dominated qualifying in America

The championship leader had already set the pace in all four practice sessions and he wasted no time in taking command of qualifying as well.

He began with a 1m38.440s, then improved on that by just 0.001 seconds on his next flying lap.

There was plenty more to come on his final set of tyres too, as Marquez blasted to a 1m37.958s.

No one could get within half a second of that pace. World champion Jorge Lorenzo managed best, putting his Yamaha second on the grid.

Tech 3's Cal Crutchlow had looked set to make it two Yamahas on the front row, only for Marquez's Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa to demote the Briton to fourth with a late lap.

Alvaro Bautista and top home rider Nicky Hayden complete row two.

Stefan Bradl had been among the pacesetters through practice but crashed in both the pre-qualifying practice session and Q2. That left him behind Bradley Smith in eighth.

Valentino Rossi was never a factor in the pole fight. He qualified 1.3s off the pace in ninth.

Colin Edwards produced an outstanding performance to go fastest in Q1 on home ground on his CRT Forward FTR-Kawasaki.

That took him into Q2 for the first time, and he will line up on row four behind the Ducatis of Andrea Dovizioso and fellow Q1 qualifier Andrea Iannone.

Iannone's Pramac team-mate Ben Spies will miss the race after dislocating his shoulder in practice three.

Aleix Espargaro harmed his chances with a crash in the pre-qualifying practice session that left him with badly bruised hands. He could not make it out of Q1 and will start 13th.

Pos  Rider             Team/Bike             Time       Gap
 1.  Marc Marquez      Honda                 1m37.958s
 2.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha                1m38.471s  +0.513s
 3.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda                 1m38.485s  +0.527s
 4.  Cal Crutchlow     Tech 3 Yamaha         1m38.502s  +0.544s
 5.  Alvaro Bautista   Gresini Honda         1m38.872s  +0.914s
 6.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati                1m39.142s  +1.184s
 7.  Bradley Smith     Tech 3 Yamaha         1m39.255s  +1.297s
 8.  Stefan Bradl      LCR Honda             1m39.313s  +1.355s
 9.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha                1m39.356s  +1.398s
10.  Andrea Dovizioso  Ducati                1m39.555s  +1.597s
11.  Andrea Iannone    Pramac Ducati         1m40.042s  +2.084s
12.  Colin Edwards     Forward FTR-Kawasaki  1m40.372s  +2.414s
13.  Aleix Espargaro   Aspar Aprilia         1m40.444s  Q1
14.  Danilo Petrucci   Ioda-Suter-BMW        1m41.122s  Q1
15.  Randy de Puniet   Aspar Aprilia         1m41.154s  Q1
16.  Claudio Corti     Forward FTR-Kawasaki  1m41.334s  Q1
17.  Hector Barbera    Avintia FTR-Kawasaki  1m41.527s  Q1
18.  Michael Laverty   PBM-Aprilia           1m41.618s  Q1
19.  Hiroshi Aoyama    Avintia FTR-Kawasaki  1m41.665s  Q1
20.  Bryan Staring     Gresini FTR-Honda     1m41.786s  Q1
21.  Yonny Hernandez   PBM Aprilia           1m41.807s  Q1
22.  Lukas Pesek       Ioda-Suter-BMW        1m41.868s  Q1
23.  Karel Abraham     Cardion Aprilia       1m42.165s  Q1
24.  Blake Young       Attack APR-Kawasaki   1m44.472s  Q1

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