Marc Marquez stormed to pole position for the Catalan Grand Prix on Saturday in Barcelona, marking his first at his home MotoGP race.
Marquez laid down the early pace in the final battle for pole position with a lap that was not challenged until late in the session when Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo and Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa ran him close.
However, the two-time MotoGP world champion dug deep to produce a stunning final lap of 1m43.589s for his third pole position of the season.
The result came less than 24 hours after the death of Moto2 rider Luis Salom in practice in Barcelona, to whom Marquez dedicated the pole position.
Lorenzo finished as Marquez’s nearest challenger in second place, four-tenths of a second behind, while Pedrosa rounded out the all-Spanish front row of the grid.
Hector Barbera finished fourth on his Avintia Racing Ducati, making Valentino Rossi the top overseas rider in P5 for Yamaha, seven-tenths of a second off the pole lap time.
Suzuki’s Maverick Vinales ended the session sixth ahead of LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow and Ducati’s Andrea Iannone, while Danilo Petrucci and Andrea Dovizioso rounded out the top 10.
The Catalan Grand Prix takes place at 2pm local time on Sunday.