After not being able to improve on his previous pace between FP3 and FP4, Jorge Lorenzo rebounded to capture the first pole position of the 2016 MotoGP season, at the Losail International Circuit.
Make sense of all this as best you can. In FP4 Jorge Lorenzo was .525 second slower than he was in FP3, Andrea Iannone was 1.2 seconds slower, and Marc Marquez .631 slower. Earlier in the day, Lorenzo spoke of wind as slowing his progress, speculating that it might affect the Ducatis (winglets?) less. Yet qualifying reveals Iannone as being twice as slowed as Lorenzo between FP3 and FP4. A look at the weather revealed wind in the 10- to 12-mph range. All the previous speed, plus a bit more, came back in Q2. As before, the Ducatis are generally 6- to 10-mph faster in top speed than the the other usual front-runners. Lorenzo set pole time on his first flying lap, which is a bit unusual on the slower-warming Michelins. His smoothness is important on this flowing course, where high corner speed counts, but he still had a big slide late in the session. Afterwards, he commented, “Sometimes you have a good feeling with one rear tire and you put in another and you have a different feeling.” Iannone, so impressive in earlier practice, was slowed on his last try by Scott Redding. Meanwhile, Marquez made a 1:54.2 lap, but because it began after the closing flag it was not scored. Tire choice remains up in the air for most riders. It’s time to think, not of lap times but of sustainable pace. Rossi, qualified fifth and said, “It looks like four of five riders are fast and have more or less the same pace, but I’m most worried about Marquez because today he had the best pace.”
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