Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/731331
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 25 SEPTEMBER 2016 53 REPSOL Honda's Marc Márquez trounced his rivals as he f lew to pole position at the Aragón Grand Prix, his sixth of the season. Márquez set three laps quick enough for top spot, the fastest a 1:47.117, as he finished 0.631s clear of Suzuki's Maverick Viñales. Jorge Lorenzo took third po- sition for Yamaha, just 0.030s behind Viñales, ensuring an all-Spanish front-row for the sport's third visit to the country this season. Andrea Dovizioso moved up to fourth position for Ducati as LCR Honda's Cal Crutchlow crashed at Turn 1 on his final attempt, ending up in fifth, having initially emerged as Márquez's nearest rival. Valentino Rossi collected sixth position on his final ef- fort as Dani Pedrosa crashed at Turn 15 while set for a quick time, leaving the Repsol Honda rider in seventh spot. Aleix Espargaró was eighth, ahead of Pramac Ducati pair Danilo Petrucci and Scott Red- ding, as Pol Espargaró and Stefan Bradl completed the Q2 contenders. Héctor Barberá was 13th, in front of Álvaro Bautista and As- par pair Yonny Hernández and Eugene Laverty. Ducati's Michele Pirro en- dured a tricky session, running wide at the final corner before crashing at Turn 8, winding up a low-key 17th on the factory bike. Marc VDS rider Tito Rabat took 18th as he edged out team- mate Nicky Hayden, the 2006 World Champion returning to replace the injured Jack Miller, while Loris Baz took 20th. Tech 3's Alex Lowes did not participate in qualif ying fol- lowing a practice crash and his presence in Sunday's race is de- pendent on passing a medical assessment on Sunday morning. Should he be declared fit to ride, Lowes will line-up from 21st position. The Aragón Grand Prix will begin today at 14:00 local time Sport MOTORSPORTS Sports minister pre-empts controversy over racetrack "EVERYONE must support and unite behind the Federation." This was the main message of the Parliamentary Secretary for Sports, Chris Agius and David Agius, Opposition Spokesman for Sport, during the presenta- tion of certificates to Race Of- ficials and Marshals who com- pleted successfully the course organized by the Malta Motor- sport Federation (MMF) with the support of the FIA, Sport- Malta with the collaboration of MSA UK and the Italian Federa- tion ACI Sport along with Island Car Club. Chris Agius said that in the coming days, the government will announce the site where the long-awaited motor recreational and educational park should be developed for the benefit of hun- dreds of enthusiasts who prac- tise this sport. He said that the time has come to work together behind the Federation as nobody should use this project and turn it into a political game to hin- der and obstruct this important step for the development of this sport. David Agius stressed that the clubs should be able to pass their enthusiasm to the public, because they want people to un- derstand the importance of the next step. Both speakers reiter- ated that "everyone loves the en- vironment, but the people must understand that there is a need to be addressed where this sport should continue to develop safe- ly and professionally." The President of the Malta Motorsport Federation, Tonio Cini said that the development of a motor circuit in Malta has been a top priority for the Fed- eration, because it helps in the growth and sustainability of the sport. This site will reduce various costs and problems that members face when practising. He added that the federation has intensively worked since 2014 to strengthen the best practice of the sport together with their affiliated clubs, thus the need of training courses to further en- hance the importance of being more professional in our organi- sations, although we must ap- preciate that all committees are run by volunteers. William England, the Treas- urer of the Federation, explained in detail the intensive training held recently since last Febru- ary with funds coming from FIA and SportMalta, in collaboration with MSA UK and ACI Sport. Furthermore, he explained that Mr Gianluca Marotta from ACI Sport Italia, visited all sites used for motor racing and visually inspected these places, thereby preparing Safety Plans for each site according to international FIA standards. In addition, a team of officials went to Sic- ily to assist in the International Hill Climb event held in Erice to further enhance the training in a practical way. During the conference, 22 Safety Officials were presented with their respective certificates who completed the MMF course and 25 Marshals who completed the Marshals course organized by the Island Car Club. The Federation also presented a token in appreciation to Drag Racing driver Duncan Micallef who recently took part in the FIA Drag Racing European Fi- nals held in Santa Pod UK, and twice registered the fastest Eu- ropean time for male drivers of 3.89sec. Micallef thanked all those who supported him throughout this journey and re- iterated the importance to unite behind the Federation. 2016 Aragon MotoGP Grand Prix - Qualifying Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. M. Marquez Repsol Honda 01:47.117 7 2. M. Viñales Suzuki 01:47.748 7 3. J. Lorenzo Yamaha 01:47.778 7 4. A. Dovizioso Ducati 01:47.819 7 5. C. Crutchlow LCR 01:47.843 7 6. V. Rossi Yamaha 01:47.951 7 7. D. Pedrosa Repsol Honda 01:48.017 7 8. A. Espargaro Suzuki 01:48.230 7 9. D. Petrucci Pramac 01:48.236 6 10. S. Redding Pramac 01:48.242 7 11. P. Espargaro Tech 3 01:48.448 6 12. S. Bradl Aprilia 01:49.083 8 Márquez dominates for pole at Aragón Parliamentary Secretary for Sports, Chris Agius (second from left) and David Agius, Opposition Spokesman for Sport (first left) during the presentation of certificates to MMF race officials