Marquez bags 90th pole, Motegi first

Quartararo was lacking just 0.090 on his final flying lap but couldn’t quite find enough time, the Frenchman slotting in behind teammate Morbidelli on the front row as the two Petronas machines shadow Marquez, the Italian claiming his equal-best MotoGP Q2 result. No one could beat Marquez today as he now boasts a premier class pole position at every circuit on the current calendar, another nice little record for the number 93. Fourth place for Vinales means there’s a triple M1 threat coming the way of the Champion on Sunday afternoon, but it's the first time he's off the front row since Silverstone.

Crutchlow produced a sterling job to stick his LCR Honda Castrol RC213V in the middle of the second row, that’s the Briton’s best qualifying result since being on the front row in America, with his good friend Miller lining up alongside him in P6 as the leading Ducati rider.

Top3 Qualifiers – Morbidelli (2nd), Marquez (1st) ad Quartararo

Both the Spaniard and Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) set the same time, as the two Team Suzuki Ecstar machines of Q1 graduate Alex Rins and Joan Mir complete the Q2 pecking order at the Japanese GP.

Pole number 10 for Marquez in 2019 sees him hold the advantage off the line on Sunday, but you can bet your bottom yen that he isn’t going to have it all his own way at Motegi. Three Yamahas are waiting to attack on Sunday, Round 16 is one you don’t want to miss.

Marc Marquez 93
1ST 1'45.763
“First pole position on the MotoGP bike in Motegi is great, I didn't know it was the last one! It’s a circuit that I usually struggle at a bit but today the setup was working very well in Qualifying and I was able to ride in a different way. It's important to start on pole at the home of Honda. I felt very strong during Free Practice 4 but the conditions weren’t really normal. It was still a bit wet out on track, tomorrow we will have a lot of pressure from Yamaha and Dovizioso I think, so we still need to work a bit in Warm Up. The target is to fight for the victory, let’s see what the conditions are."

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