Texas storms no problem for pole setter Marc Marquez

Marc Marquez charged to his seventh consecutive pole in Texas as Jorge Lorenzo secured 11^th place start.

Torrential morning rain and threats of severe lightning storms in Austin, Texas led to the cancellation of all Free Practice 3 sessions at the Circuit of the Americas. Fortunately conditions improved and the Repsol Honda Team were able to join the MotoGP field for Free Practice 4 as scheduled.

The FP4 session did allow riders to briefly test slicks on the drying track before heading into qualifying.

With the track more or less completely dry, Marc Marquez continued his perfect run of form on Texan soil to secure a seventh straight pole position. His lap of 2’03.787 put Marquez over a quarter of a second clear of second placed Rossi. While there are still areas to improve, the seven-time champion is feeling confident for tomorrow’s race.

Jorge Lorenzo took full advantage of the constantly improving conditions to advance through Q1 as the fastest rider. A technical issue halted Lorenzo’s first run in Q2 but he was able to return to track with five minutes remaining. Despite this, Lorenzo will line up 11^th on the grid with the aim of fighting inside the top ten.

LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow completed the front row in third place.

The weather is predicted to stay dry for Sunday’s 20-lap race, which will start at 14:00 local time. Marc Marquez is out to maintain his perfect record on US soil and make it seven wins in a row at COTA.