Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/814533
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 23 APRIL 2017 53 MOTOGP Sport Márquez beats Viñales in qualifying thriller REIGNING World Champion Marc Márquez maintained his unbeaten record at the Circuit of the Americas after prevailing in a thrilling scrap for pole position against Maverick Viñales. Márquez, who has locked out pole and victory at COTA since its arrival on the calendar in 2013, set provisional pole, while Viñales lagged almost a second behind, having been baulked by Valentino Rossi. Viñales, winner of the open- ing two races of 2017, respond- ed to move to within 0.083s of Márquez's benchmark of 2:03.042, and continued onwards, posting a 2:02.871 to leap ahead. Márquez, though, denied his compatriot pole with an electric lap of 2:02.741 on his final ef- fort, despite encountering Rossi through the final corner. Such was the dominance of the young Spaniards that third-placed Rossi wound up eight-tenths be- hind team-mate Viñales, while Dani Pedrosa claimed a low-key fourth, over a second down on Márquez. Johann Zarco maintained his fine form in fifth, while Jorge Lor- enzo displayed a much stronger showing for Ducati as he went sixth fastest, ahead of team-mate Andrea Dovizioso. Jonas Folger collected eighth po- sition, while Cal Crutchlow fell at Turn 11 and wound up ninth, in front of compatriot Scott Redding. Andrea Iannone (at Turn 15) and Jack Miller (at Turn 2) both scup- pered their Q2 runs with crashes, leaving them down in 11th and 12th respectively, three seconds off the pace. Danilo Petrucci was 13th for Pramac, as the quickest Q1 rider not to secure a Q2 spot, while Avintia's Loris Baz saved a wild moment through the final left- hander. Baz lost control and was almost on the ground, but astonishingly re-grouped and rounded the cor- ner, to rapturous applause from his Avintia team. Baz took 14th, ahead of team- mate Héctor Barberá, Marc VDS sophomore Tito Rabat and Aspar's Karel Abraham, riding injured af- ter his heavy FP2 fall. Bradley Smith provided en- couragement for KTM with 18th, though team-mate Pol Espargaró slid off the RC.16 on the entry to Turn 2 and finished only 21st, the pair split by Álvaro Bautista and Sam Lowes. Aleix Espargaró will start from the back of the grid after crashing through Turn 1 during the early stages of Q1, ending the session without a timed lap. Only 22 riders participated in qualifying due to the withdrawal of Suzuki's Álex Rins, who frac- tured his left wrist in a heavy fall in third practice. FORMULA 1 Steiner: 'Big three' teams will remain clear HAAS Team Principal Guen- ther Steiner says he expects the leading three teams – Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull – to remain significantly clear of the chasing pack throughout the course of 2017. Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull have locked out the leading six positions so far this season, aside from when problems affected Daniel Ricciardo (in Australia) and Max Verstappen (in Bahrain). The superiority of the aforemen- tioned teams has left the midfield group chasing the lower points- paying positions, and Steiner reckons the status will remain unchanged throughout 2017. "The big teams, especially Mer- cedes and Ferrari – I think Red Bull is a bit behind – are pretty much ahead of the rest," he told the official F1 website. "The four midfield teams are pretty close together. But yes, there is a significant gap to the big three – take the qualifying times, multiply the gap by the number of race laps and there you are. "Will that change? I hope so - but my fear is that it will stay that way for the whole season." Haas has been in the thick of the midfield scrap in 2017, with Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean taking successive eighth places in China and Bahrain respectively. With development expected to be a crucial part of the midfield battle this year, Steiner expressed confidence that Haas has a solid plan in place to remain in the fight. "I don't know what the other teams are doing, but we have a good plan," he commented. "In reality I think we are in the range of our midfield opponents in terms of quantity – then, of course, you have to make sure that the quality also delivers. "We will have a substantial up- grade for Barcelona – and the next step is still in the wind tunnel! "Once we find the gains we will start producing. There is a good plan in place. And of course bits and pieces we will bring at any other race."