Franco Morbidelli denied Jack Miller pole position for the Valencia Grand Prix in the closing seconds of the session, while series leader Joan Mir struggled to 12th.
Morbidelli proved his pole pedigree with the fastest time in FP3 on Saturday morning, though looked to have a tough fight on his hands if he was to repeat the feat in the pole shootout after he managed only the fifth quickest time in the opening runs, Brad Binder’s KTM leading the way.
Mir struggled to match the performance that lifted him outside the top ten to sixth overall in FP3, the Suzuki man only tenth after his first string of efforts.
KTM looked odd’s on to score a first ever 1-2 in qualifying as Pol Espargaro backed up team-mate Binder with the second fastest time with only a few minutes remaining, though a late flurry of improvements would drastically alter the timesheets.
Maverick Vinales pulled out a 1:30.645 to put his factory Yamaha top of the pile as the final runs began, though he was swiftly relegated to second by a flying Miller-the Aussie posting a time 0.358 quicker than the Spaniard.
Morbidelli had something up his sleeve though as the Italian fired in a rapid 1:30.191 to move himself 0.096 clear of the Pramac Ducati, a time that would ultimately remain unbeaten to secure his second ever premier class pole.
Miller held firm and will start in the middle of the front row, while Takaaki Nakagami banked two times good enough for third at the end of the session to put himself in the best position to finally net a debut podium in Sunday’s Valencia GP.
Johann Zarco impressed once again for Avintia with fourth on the grid ahead of Pol’s KTM, while Vinales slipped to sixth by the end.
Aleix Espargaro was a solid seventh for Aprilia ahead of Francesco Bagnaia on the second Pramac machine, with Binder being shuffled to ninth by the time the chequered flag brought the curtain down on the session-though this wasn’t a bad result considering he had to progress through Q1 to have a chance at the pole shootout.
The South African was the man to beat in during the opening segment of qualifying, his opening gambit enough to leave him fastest by just over a tenth ahead of Quartararo, while fellow championship challenger Alex Rins struggled.
Suzuki’s second charger languished in 15th following the opening set of efforts, the Japanese manufacturer’s GSX-RR seemingly once again suffering in qualifying trim.
Some light rain reduced the amount of grip afforded to the riders by the Circuit Ricardo Tormo tarmac, meaning no improvements came during the second runs and limiting Rins to a fifth row start.
Also missing out on a Q2 chance was Valentino Rossi down in 16th ahead of Andrea Dovizioso, who lost out to team-mate Danilo Petrucci in 14th.
Neither factory Honda made it through to the pole shootout meanwhile, though Stefan Bradl would get the better of Alex Marquez in no small part to a hard crash for the reigning Moto2 world champion.
Marquez high-sided spectacularly as he tried to put the power down on the slippy surface, flying into the air and impacting the circuit hard.
He thankfully walked away from the incident, but ended the session a lowly 20th as a result ahead of only Aprilia new-boy Lorenzo Savadori, while Bradl was 18th.
Miguel Oliveira completed the top ten for Tech 3 KTM meanwhile, with Fabio Quartararo and Mir only managing 11th and 12th on the grid respectively.
