Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez obliterated his own outright lap record to snatch MotoGP pole position from team-mate Dani Pedrosa at Motorland Aragon this afternoon while Cal Crutchlow put in a fast final lap to end in the middle of the second row.

Marquez lapped at 1’47.187, some six-tenths faster than his own record set last year in qualifying, to edge out Pedrosa who had bagged top spot with only a couple of minutes left to go while Andrea Iannone ended as top Ducati, using the soft tyre to go third with a 1’47.685.

The Pramac Ducati man’s time was enough to push Pol Espargaro to the top of row two but a minor miracle from Crutchlow, whose team-mate Andrea Dovizioso crashed, saw him put in a lap fast enough for fourth initially but he ended in fifth after Iannone’s last effort.

Valentino Rossi also found a lap from nowhere to take the final second row spot. The works Yamaha man had to come from qualifying one after a disastrous free practice three. Rossi used the same medium tyre at the start of the second session as he finished the first but then came in for a new medium, matched to a soft front, and pulled off a 1’48.226, easily his quickest of the weekend so far.

Team-mate Jorge Lorenzo started the session fast and was top in the first run but wasn’t able to find much more in the way of pace and slipped back to the head of row two and is a full second slower than Marquez. Stefan Bradl, Dovizioso and Aleix Espargaro complete the top ten while Smith accident in the second run saw him slide down to 11th with Hector Barbera 12th.

Go&Fun Honda’s Scott Redding put his Production bike only one place behind the factory-spec RC213V of team-mate Alvaro Bautista in 16th place with Nicky Hayden 18th and Michael Laverty 21st.

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