Jorge Martin secured a record 14th career Moto3 pole after firing in a late effort to dominate qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix.
Championship leader Marco Bezzecchi came into qualifying as the rider to beat, after the Prustel GP man topped final practice on Saturday morning with a 1:42.308s lap.
Nicolo Bulega led the way in the opening minutes of qualifying on his Sky VR46 KTM, topping the timesheets with a 1:43.112s.
Martin demoted the Italian moments later with a 1:42.644s, which stood for the next 10 minutes before the Gresini man went slightly quicker with a 1:42.526s, usurping Aron Canet, who had just gone top seconds before.
With 15 minutes remaining, Barcelona race winner and poleman Enea Bastianini shot to the top of the standings with a 1:42.349s, and this remained the time to beat as the session entered its dying moments.
A final effort of 1:42.039s from Martin put him 0.310 seconds clear of Bastianini to take the record for most Moto3 poles away from Alex Rins.
Bastianini remained in second despite a late push from Bulega, who jumped up to third with a 1:42.445s to secure his first front row start since last year's Japanese Grand Prix.
A late crash for Canet at the tight Strubben hairpin meant he could do nothing to improve on fourth, with Lorenzo Dalla Porta and John McPhee joining the Spaniard on the second row after their final laps.
Martin's Gresini teammate Fabio Di Giannantonio lost all of FP3 due to a fast crash at the Ruskenhoek, but was able to salvage seventh in qualifying despite the loss in track time.
Bezzecchi was using Prustel GP teammate Jakub Kornfeil – who has a 12-place grid penalty for irresponsible riding in FP2 – as a reference in the closing stages, but clipped the Czech rider's rear wheel at the GT chicane and scuppered his hopes of advancing on eighth.
Marcos Ramirez and Gabriel Rodrigo completed the top 10, while Tony Arbolino and Niccolo Antonelli will be promoted to the fringes of the top 10 thanks to grid drops for Adam Norrodin – who will start last – and Albert Arenas, who has been docked six places for his collision with Canet and Bulega at Catalunya.
Ayumu Sasaki [16th], Dennis Fogia [19th] and Kaito Toba [21st] will also drop 12 places for touring in FP2, which will promote Kazuki Masaki up several places, who crashed heavily at Ruskenhoek early on but made it back out for a lap at the end.
