Marc Marquez continues dominant march in MotoGP

World champion Marc Marquez continued his MotoGP domination yesterday at Jerez by securing his fourth straight pole in track-record time for Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix.

MotoGP points leader Marc Marquez of Spain leans his Honda through a curve on the way to grabbing the pole on Saturday for Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez. rMarcelo del Pozo / Reuters

JEREZ DE LA FRONTERA, Spain // World champion Marc Marquez continued his MotoGP domination yesterday at Jerez by securing his fourth straight pole in track-record time for today’s Spanish Grand Prix.

The Spaniard’s time of one minute, 38.12 seconds broke compatriot Jorge Lorenzo’s previous record from 2008 by 0.069 of a second and in doing so relegated the Yamaha star to second place on the grid.

The Honda rider has a commanding lead in the championship standings having won all three races so far this season in Qatar, the United States and Argentina and the 21-year-old rider thanked his team for a new strategy – using three different sets of tyres – to help him keep his run going.

“We used a new strategy and on the last run the tyres worked very well,” he said. “We are performing at a good level and we are prepared to fight for the win, although I think here everything will be tighter and we will need to really push ourselves. It will be a great race.”

Despite losing out on pole and another record to Marquez, Lorenzo was also happy to be moving in the right direction after a difficult start to the season that has seen him retire from the season opener in Qatar and finish 10th at the Grand Prix of the Americas in Austin last month.

“I am happy, we managed to register some good times and I am comfortable on the bike,” the Spaniard said. “Second place is good for tomorrow because we are more or less where we were in Argentina, and possibly even a bit better. Being on the first row is ideal for what will be a very long and physically demanding race.”

Last year’s winner at Jerez, Dani Pedrosa, will start third and conceded that his Honda teammate Marquez was too good.

“We tried to do our best in qualifying, but Marc is always very quick over one lap,” he said.

Six-time world champion Valentino Rossi leads the second row of the grid in fourth ahead of Spaniard Aleix Espargaro and fellow Italian Andrea Dovizioso.

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