Source: Supplied.

World championship leader Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) secured his 50th premier class pole position at the Thailand grand prix to become the first rider to qualify P1 after progressing through from Q1.

The Spaniard edged out second place Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) by a minimal 0.011s, with Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) completing the front row at the Chang International Circuit.

The number 93 recovered from a crash at turn three in FP3 – which left him having to fight it out in Q1 – to progress comfortably into the Q2 shootout. Then, in the groove from Q1, Marquez burst straight out of the Buriram blocks to set the first benchmark.

A 1m30.528s was the time to beat, before the six-time world champion then moved the goal posts again – a 1m30.356s now the target, as Dovizioso slotted into P2 before the second run. 0.235s the gap, with 0.455s covering the top nine.

The top 12 then headed back out for another shot at pole and this time it was Rossi who came out with all cylinders firing. ‘The Doctor’ set a 1m30.099s to blast to the top of the timesheets – but a certain Repsol Honda rider was lurking. Marquez set red sector after red sector and by the line, the Spaniard was able to oust his rival by a whisker – 0.011s splitting the duo.

Dovizioso threatened as he joined the two on the provisional front row but despite red crash helmets appearing on the timing screens in the first two sectors – the Desmosedici stronghold – the Italian couldn’t quite hold on to his advantage in the final half of the lap – third for ‘DesmoDovi’, 0.139s back.

Maverick Viñales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) was the only rider to do a two-stop qualifying strategy, with his second set of tyres appearing to provide the Spaniard with little grip as he came in to swap bikes. On his third run though, the Yamaha rider was able to set a personal best as the chequered flag was waved to spearhead the second row of the grid in fourth.

Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) went quicker on his final lap despite failing to improve his position, so it was P5 for the British rider in the end after briefly sitting on the provisional front row, 0.268s from pole.

Andrea Iannone (Team Suzuki Ecstar) has been a prominent top eight contender throughout the weekend, the Italian having a solid Q2 to start from the outside of row two in sixth. Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) will launch from seventh on the grid, the Spaniard edging out Monster Tech 3 Yamaha’s Johann Zarco by 0.013s in eighth.

Danilo Petrucci (Alma Pramac Racing) – who was P2 after the first set of flying laps – will start from P9, just over half a second back from Marquez, with teammate and Australian Jack Miller rounding out the top 10.

Q1 graduate Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) couldn’t quite push himself into the top ten, P11 on the grid for the Spaniard, with Alvaro Bautista (Angel Nieto Team) completing the Q2 classification in 12th – 0.888s separating the top 12 in qualifying.

Lorenzo Baldassarri (Pons HP40) earned his second Moto2 pole position of the season after laying down a 1m36.374s early in the session to eventually take Saturday honours by 0.026s from second place Alex Marquez (Pons HP40), with third place Luca Marini (SKY Racing Team VR46) threatening pole as 0.034s separate the front row. Australian Remy Gardner (Tech3 Racing) was 19th fastest.

Marco Bezzecchi (Redox PruestelGP) will start Sunday’s Moto3 race from pole position after blitzing the final lap dash, going 0.462s faster than second place Jaume Masia (Bester Capital Dubai), with Kazuki Masaki (RBA BOE Skull Rider) completing the front row of the grid.

Detailed results