Champion Marquez takes pole in Argentina

Reigning double world champion Marc Marquez stormed to his 24th pole position in just 39 MotoGP races in Argentina on Saturday.

The Spanish Honda rider will line up alongside compatriot Aleix Esparago (Suzuki) and Italy's Andrea Iannone (Ducati) on the front row of the grid.

The 22-year-old flew around the scorching Thermes de Rio Hondo circuit in 1min 37.802sec to snatch pole for the second year in a row here.

"I am happy today, because we were able to fight for pole and eventually got it," said Marquez.

"It was important to start from the front tomorrow, because the track is quite dirty and that makes it harder to overtake.

"We'll see what happens, we expect a pretty tough race with even higher temperatures than today."

Iannone may be on the front row but he admitted to having concerns about his tyres for the race.

"I am pleased because the front row was one of our aims and we managed to achieve it, but together with my team we still have to try and find a solution to get the best out of the soft tyre," he said.

"For sure tomorrow it will be important to get a good start and I must try not to stress the rear tyre too much, in particular because we do not have the extra-hard compound."

Britain's Carl Crutchlow (Honda), Spain's former world champion Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) and Italian Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) will start on the second row.

Italian legend Valentino Rossi, who won the first race of the season, could manage only eighth fastest on a Yamaha.

Even so, Marquez identified the seven-time world champion and two-time laureat Lorenzo as his two main rivals for the race.

Rossi said: "I am very upset for the qualifying because I feel I could do better. Our strategy was not perfect, we arrived in traffic and unfortunately it was not possible to improve.

"On the other side, with the hard tyres the bike works well and I have a good pace, that is most important for the race.

"We have to work in some places as we still have some issues to solve, we will try to improve and do the best we can in the race."
Source: AFP