Repsol Honda rider Marc Marquez will start Sunday afternoons GP of the Czech Republic from pole position after bearing the Yamaha of valentine Rossi by less than a tenth of a second. The Doctor came out swinging on a sunny second day at the Automotodrom Brno, slotting into the middle of the first row, a rose between two thorns so to speak with the second Repsol Honda of Dani Pedrosa in third place.

“Starting from first row is always a vital component to having a good race weekend,” said Yamaha man Massimo Meregalli. “Valentino was feeling very comfortable on his bike in FP3 and FP4 and he again showed his pace in Q2. His first run was already competitive but, with clear track ahead of him, he really got up to speed on the second outing and came very close to the pole with a 1‘55.073s lap”

Andrea Dovizioso, who topped the times on the Brno circuit on Friday, will line up fourth fastest leading row two alongside LCR Honda rider Cal Crutchlow and his own Ducati teammate, Jorge Lorenzo in sixth.

The second Yamaha of maverick Vinales will start from P7 with some ‘fine tuning' still to be done before Sunday's race.

“Maverick made some big changes to his bike, but there's still some fine-tuning to be done,” Meregalli continued. “He had a strong race pace this morning, but there's room for improvement in the second sector, as seen in this afternoon‘s qualifying session. Though the weather conditions for the race remain a question mark, we will prepare something for tomorrow's warm up to see if we can gain a few more tenths before we get into the race-mood.”

Danilo Petrucci will start from the middle of the third row with Alvaro Bautista lining up on the outside of row three in ninth place.

Johann Zarco, who showed such promise on Friday rounded out the top ten with Tech 3 teammate Jonas Folger down in 14th.

Qualifying classification
1. Marc MARQUEZ, Repsol Honda Team - 1'54.981
2. Valentino ROSSI, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP - 1'55.073 +0.092
3. Dani PEDROSA, Repsol Honda Team - 1'55.119 +0.138
4. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Ducati Team - 1'55.441 +0.460
5. Cal CRUTCHLOW, LCR Honda - 1'55.489 +0.508
6. Jorge LORENZO, Ducati Team - 1'55.552 +0.571
7. Maverick VIÑALES, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP - 1'55.663 +0.682
8. Danilo PETRUCCI, OCTO Pramac Racing - 1'55.738 +0.757
9. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Pull&Bear Aspar Team - 1'56.027 +1.046
10. Johann ZARCO, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 - 1'56.075 +1.094
11. Aleix ESPARGARO, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini - 1'56.355 +1.374
12. Loris BAZ, Reale Avintia Racing - 1'56.624 +1.643
13. Alex RINS, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR - 1'56.460 (Q1)
14. Jonas FOLGER, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 - 1'56.540 (Q1)
15. Jack MILLER, EG 0,0 Marc VDS - 1'56.543 (Q1)
16. Hector BARBERA, Reale Avintia Racing - 1'56.685 (Q1)
17. Karel ABRAHAM, Pull&Bear Aspar Team - 1'56.786 (Q1)
18. Pol ESPARGARO, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing - 1'57.034 (Q1)
19. Bradley SMITH, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing - 1'57.042 (Q1)
20. Andrea IANNONE, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR - 1'57.245 (Q1)
21. Tito RABAT, EG 0,0 Marc VDS - 1'57.288 (Q1)
22. Sam LOWES, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini - 1'57.465 (Q1)
23. Scott REDDING, OCTO Pramac Racing - 1'57.517 (Q1)