Marquez wins Pole Position for Sunday’s Red Bull Indianapolis GP

INDIANAPOLIS, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2015 – Two-time defending MotoGP World Champion Marc Marquez posted a time of 1 minute 31.884 seconds on his No. 93 Repsol Honda on Saturday while capturing the pole position for Sunday’s Red Bull Indianapolis GP at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Marquez, who won from the pole during the last two MotoGP races at IMS, scored his fifth pole in 10 races this season. He has 27 poles in 46 starts in his MotoGP career.

The 27-lap MotoGP race starts at 2 p.m. on Sunday.

“Yesterday, I saw that Jorge (Lorenzo) was really strong, but today we got closer and we had a similar pace,” Marquez said. “Happy to be on the pole and we will see tomorrow because the tire degradation, it’s an important thing here. We will be there. The key of the race, I think, on the last laps everybody will be struggling with rear grip. But we will try to do our best and try to be there, ready for a fight.”

Marquez is the first to win three consecutive poles at the Red Bull Indianapolis GP. He was tied with Dani Pedrosa for the most poles (two) overall in the event.

The winner of a remarkable 21 races since entering MotoGP competition in 2013, Marquez will look to win his fifth race at IMS following triumphs in Moto2 in 2011 and 2012 and MotoGP wins the last two years. Marquez is in fourth place in the MotoGP standings and will be looking for his third win of the season on Sunday.

Starting next to Marquez on the grid will be his Spanish countryman and Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa, who posted a lap of 1:32.055. A two-time race winner (2010 and 2012) at Indianapolis, Pedrosa failed to make the podium at IMS for the first time since 2009 when he finished fourth last year.

The all-Spanish front row of the grid was assured when two-time world champion Jorge Lorenzo posted a lap of 1:32.186 on his No. 99 Movistar Yamaha. Lorenzo will be looking for his fifth win of the season to go along with victories at Jerez, Le Mans, Mugello and Barcelona.

The legendary Valentino Rossi of Italy, a seven-time MotoGP world champion and winner of the inaugural Red Bull Indianapolis GP in 2008, will begin Sunday’s race in the middle of the third row after posting a time of 1:32.511 on his No. 46 Movistar Yamaha. The ageless Rossi sits atop the MotoGP standings, 13 points clear of his Yamaha teammate Lorenzo. Rossi has wins this year in Qatar, Argentina and Assen.

“For me, from the third row, it’s always difficult,” Rossi said. “But mainly the problem for tomorrow, I’m a little bit worried, especially because also Pedrosa is very strong. He’s a little bit stronger than me. So Jorge, Marc and Pedrosa, to stay with them, we have to make another step.”

Nicky Hayden of Owensboro, Kentucky, who won the 2006 MotoGP World Championship, qualified 20th on his No. 69 Aspar Honda in 1:34.030.

“Well, we thought we had found a little bit of a direction yesterday afternoon,” Hayden said. “This morning we probably went backwards a little bit and qualifying obviously didn’t go very good. We just tried a few things that probably didn’t bring as good a result as we’d hoped.”

During a MotoGP practice session, Andrea Iannone posted a record trap speed of 217.0 mph (349.3 km/h) for a motorcycle at the Indianapolis Speedway, topping the 216.9 mph (349.0 km/h) recorded last year by Pedrosa.

Alex Rins of Spain won his second pole position of the season in Moto2 qualifying with a time of 1:36.549 on his Kalex bike. The 25-lap Moto2 race will start on Sunday at 12:20 p.m.

Current points leader Danny Kent of Great Britain captured the sixth Moto3 pole position of his career and fourth of the season with a lap of 1:40.703 on his No. 52 Leopard Racing Honda. Kent will look to post his sixth victory of the season during the 23-lap Moto3 race Sunday at 11 a.m.

The first MotoAmerica race contested at IMS was won today by Garrett Gerloff on his No. 31 Yamaha in the Supersport class. Bobby Fong finished as the runner-up on the No. 50 Triumph bike, and with his third-place finish, JD Beach captured the 2015 Supersport title with two races remaining on the schedule.

The first of two MotoAmerica Superbike / Superstock 1000 races this weekend ended with polesitter Cameron Beaubier winning the Superbike race – his seventh win of the season — on his No. 6 Yamaha. Finishing a close second on his No. 95 Suzuki was Roger Hayden, the brother of MotoGP star Nicky Hayden. Josh Hayes, who entered today’s race tied for the series points lead with his teammate Beaubier, finished third on his No. 1 Yamaha. Hayes is a four-time AMA Superbike champion.

Also contested during the Superbike race was the first of two MotoAmerica Superstock 1000 races won by 2014 AMA Pro Daytona Superbike champion Jake Gagne on his No. 32 Yamaha. This was Gagne’s 10th win in Superstock 1000 competition this season. MotoAmerica racing action will conclude Sunday with the second MotoAmerica Superbike / Superstock 1000 race beginning at 3:30 p.m.

Public gates open Sunday at 7 a.m., and warm-ups in the various classes begin at 7:30 a.m.

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2015 Ticket Information: Fans can buy tickets for the 2015 Red Bull Indianapolis GP and apply for tickets to the 2016 Indianapolis 500, Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis, the Lilly Diabetes 250 and the Crown Royal Presents the “Your Heroes Name Here” 400 at the Brickyard.

Fans have three quick, convenient methods to buy tickets:
• Online: Visit www.ims.com/tickets. Tickets are available 24 hours per day, seven days per week.
• Phone: Call 800-822-INDY or 317-492-6700 between 8 a.m.-5 p.m. (ET) Monday through Friday.
• In Person: Visit the IMS Ticket Office in the IMS Administration Building located at 4790 West 16th Street, Indianapolis, IN, which is just east of the roundabout at Crawfordsville Road and 16th Street, between 8 a.m.-5 p.m. (ET) Monday through Friday.

Tickets for groups of 20 or more also are available. Contact the IMS Group Sales Department at 866-221-8775 for more information.

Information on parking and camping at IMS events is available at www.ims.com/tickets.