MotoGP Japan: Zarco takes pole in wet qualifying

Rookie MotoGP rider Johann Zarco has taken a surprise pole at the Japanese GP, his second of the year. He went 0.32 seconds quicker than Danilo Petrucci, while the man that everyone would love to beat, Marc Marquez, has qualified in third place, 0.43 seconds behind pole. 

However, the numbers do not tell the whole story, that of a wet track that started drying just as the session was about to end. Of the gambles with slick tyres that Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez tried because of the drying line, and finally, of the other surprises in the race: Aleix Espargaro in fourth place, just 0.04 seconds adrift of Marquez. KTM has also had its best team qualifying of the year, with Bradley Smith in seventh place and Pol Espargaro just behind him in eighth. Andrea Dovizioso starts in ninth but hopes to battle for the win anyway. Jorge Lorenzo showed rare pace in the wet, qualifying fifth. The two Suzukis also have qualified together, Alex Rins ahead of Andea Iannone in tenth and eleventh. The factory Movistar Yamaha team had a miserable qualifying after Rossi managed to be second quickest at one point in the morning practice. Following his crash, though he had to switch to the spare bike. Vinales didn't even manage to make it in Q2, while Rossi knew he didn't have the pace on his second bike in the wet and gambled on a slick tyre setup, but the strategy backfired and he starts the race in 12th place.