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Miller grabs surprise Argentina GP pole ahead of Pedrosa

Dani Pedrosa was pipped at the last as Jack Miller left it late to take pole at the Argentina Grand Prix.

Jack Miller

Termas de Rio Hondo, April 8: Jack Miller clinched a dramatic pole position at the Argentina Grand Prix with a stunning final flying lap.

It had appeared that Dani Pedrosa had negotiated the changing conditions at the Termas de Rio Hondo best, with the Spaniard top when the chequered flag was waved.

But Australian Miller came out of nowhere to post a time of one minute and 47.153 seconds to ensure he will head the grid on race day.

Pedrosa and Johann Zarco – who was on pole for the MotoGP season-opener in Qatar – complete the front row.

Marc Marquez had finished top of FP2, 3 and 4, but the Spaniard struggled on the slicks on a drying track, and opted to revert to the wet bike.

However, the world champion could only qualify sixth, behind Tito Rabat and Alex Rins, who were fourth and fifth.

Q1 graduate Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) - who was the early pace setting in Q2 after eclipsing the Ducati's - heads up the third row of the grid in seventh.

Championship leader Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) starts eighth on the grid after progressing through from Q1, with Maverick Vinales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) lining up alongside the Italian in ninth.

After looking strong all weekend, Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) will aim to pick off some of the riders in front of him on Sunday when he shoots from tenth. Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) couldn't give the Termas de Rio Hondo grandstands a dream Saturday as he qualified in P11 - 0.022 back from Crutchlow. Andrea Iannone (Team Suzuki Ecstar) will start P12.

A breath-taking MotoGP qualifying session left the Ducati's of Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team), who qualified P14, and Danilo Petrucci (Alma Pramac Racing) - who ended the day P18 - with plenty of work to do.

Provisional Classification:

1. Jack Miller (Ducati Pramac): 1:47.153secs 2. Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda): 1:47.330s 3. Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha): 1:47.365s 4. Tito Rabat (Reale Avintia Racing): 1:47.681s 5. Alex Rins (Suzuki Ecstar): 1:47.743s 6. Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda): 1:47.754s 7. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia): 1:47.845s 8. Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati): 1:48.247s 9. Maverick Vinales (Movistar Yamaha): 1:49.044s 10. Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda): 1:49.304s

Race starts at 3pm local time (11.30pm IST)

(Source: OPTA/MotoGP.com)

Story first published: Sunday, April 8, 2018, 2:02 [IST]
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