Honda rider Marc Marquez had a number of moments on Saturday at the Italian GP, including a long run off track into the gravel where he managed to keep the bike upright.

In qualifying, Marquez kept it together to take a second row start - but knows there was a little time lost in the session.

The rider from Cervera will be pushing hard to move forward on race day after a DNF in France, with his sights set on the podium after good pace in FP4.

"Honestly, I didn’t have my best qualifying today. I made a few mistakes and then I calculated the slipstream wrong when I caught Zarco too early on my last flying lap." Said the double World Champion

"I had the second-best ideal time, but we didn’t do it in one lap! In FP4 I was able to have quite a fast race pace on used tyres, which is positive, but then in qualifying we didn’t do our best, in part because we struggled with the front tyre, which is a bit too soft."

"Anyway, we’re not far off with the setup, so tomorrow we must make the right choice with the front and then I think we may fight for the podium". He concluded 

Yamaha rider Maverick Viñales has taken pole position for the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello.

The Spaniard finished ahead of team-mate and local favourite Valentino Rossi with Andrea Dovizioso completing the front row in third position on the Ducati.

Viñales, who is the current championship leader, managed to recover from a crash yesterday in practice to take his third pole position this season with a time of 1m46.575s, just 0.239s in front of Rossi.

That was still impressive by the nine-time champion who came to Mugello not fully recovered from a motocross accident he had last week, yet showed that he can fight for the victory at his home Grand Prix.

Dovizioso took advantage of Danilo Petrucci´s fastest lap being cancelled, after he exceeded track limits in Turn 5, to claim the final place on the front row with a time of 1m46.835s. 

On the second row Michelle Pirro made it three Italians in the top four on his Ducati, in front of the Repsol Honda duo with Dani Pedrosa in 5th and Marc Marquez in 6th position in a disappointing session for the Spaniards.

Five-time Mugello winner Jorge Lorenzo on the second factory Ducati led Alvaro Bautista and Danilo Petrucci, both on customer bikes of the Italian manufacturer, completed the third row.

Tito Rabat, Johan Zarco, who was the fastest during the Q1 session, and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) complete the Q2 competitors.

A surprise name not to feature was Briton Cal Crutchlow, who was fastest from the practice on Friday but did not manage to qualify for Q2, after he was third in Q1 with a time of 1m47.220s.

Andrea Dovizioso feels confident of his Ducati pace to fight the Yamaha duo at Sunday's Italian Grand Prix at Mugello.

The Italian rider will start his home race at Mugello from the front row, after the Italian veteran was also fast on Friday with some good pace shown at the venue.

‘DesmoDovi’ is also the highest placed Ducati on the grid - behind only theYamaha riders - and is one step closer to his aim for the GP: getting on the podium in front of Ducati’s home crowd; even hopeful he can keep the pace at the front.

"I’m so happy to start on the first row, I didn’t have the feeling to really make a good laptime and get here but all the Ducatis have been working well this weekend and I’m happy about that, I think we can get good results tomorrow." He said

"I’m happy how we improved the bike and used the used tyre in FP4, our pace was good and I think we have a chance to stay with them."

"But it’s a long race and Mugello is not so easy with your physical condition, no one can push 100% to the end so you have to have a strategy." He added

"But I’m happy and the laptime we did confirmed what we thought. For us the tyre choice is not so worrying, we just need to be fast from the start to the end. It’s the best weekend for us this year since Qatar."