Vinales pips home favourite Rossi to Mugello pole

Movistar Yamaha completed a one-two at the Italian Grand Prix as Maverick Vinales pipped Valentino Rossi to pole at Mugello.

Published : Jun 03, 2017 20:13 IST

After grabbing the pole position, Vinales will look to capitalise on his lead in the MotoGP World Standings.
After grabbing the pole position, Vinales will look to capitalise on his lead in the MotoGP World Standings.
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After grabbing the pole position, Vinales will look to capitalise on his lead in the MotoGP World Standings.

Maverick Vinales pulled a sensational qualifying lap out of the bag to claim his third pole position of the season at the Italian Grand Prix.

The championship leader has adapted well to life at Movistar Yamaha and will hope he can turn pole into a race win like he did in Qatar and France.

His team-mate and home favourite Valentino Rossi will have something to say about that, though, having qualified second - much to the delight of his Mugello faithful.

"Today we did great work," Rossi said. "My physical condition improved and also we improve the setting. I was quite competitive. I did a stupid mistake in FP4 and lost a bit of feeling. This second place is very important for the race tomorrow."

Vinales was behind surprise pace-setter Danilo Petrucci on his opening run of qualifying but went half a second quicker than the Octo Pramac Racing rider after his stop.

Petrucci could have claimed a place in the top three with another impressive lap but his time was wiped out after he was found to have exceeded the track limits - the Italian having to settle for ninth.

Instead it was another Italian Andrea Dovizioso who completed the front row for Ducati, with team-mate Michele Pirro just behind him in fourth.

Dani Pedrosa - who came through Q1 with Johann Zarco - showed good pace and was able to out-qualify Repsol Honda colleague and defending champion Marc Marquez.

 

PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION

1. Maverick Vinales (Movistar Yamaha) 1:46.575
2. Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha) 1:46.814
3. Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) 1:46.835
4. Michele Pirro (Ducati) 1:46.878
5. Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) 1:46.999
6. Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) 1:47.050
7. Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati) 1:47.152
8. Alvaro Bautista (Aspar) 1:47.167
9. Danilo Petrucci (Octo Pramac Racing) 1:47.266
10. Tito Rabat (Marc VDS) 1:47.282

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