Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso snatched his first MotoGP pole position since Malaysia 2016 at Brno this afternoon, nudging Marc Marquez off top spot with his final lap before Valentino Rossi also went ahead of the reigning champion.
Marquez had been the first man to drop under the 1’55 barrier with a 1’54.961 on his second run of qualifying and it looked like top spot was his but Dovizioso, who used the new aero package and a carbon-insert chassis, had rolled out with a new hard/soft combination and got close to the outright circuit record with a 1’54.689.
Rossi’s Movistar Yamaha was only 300 metres behind Dovizoso on track and his countryman’s markers were enough for the Italian to bag second with a 1’54.956, just over a quarter of a second behind the GP18.
Marquez completed the front row with his time while Jorge Lorenzo is at the head of row two. The Spaniard had scorched to top spot at the beginning of the second run with a 1'55.098, using a medium front Michelin, but his time was quickly eclipsed by Marquez.
Britain's Cal Crutchlow was in the train behind Marquez and finished two places and less than a tenth behind the HRC team leader. Danilo Petrucci used his spare bike after a breakdown in free practice four to mop up the second row.
Johann Zarco had been on pole pace at the beginning of his final lap but it went away from him and he finished in seventh place. The two Suzukis of Andrea Iannone and Alex Rins, who came through Q1, are next along with Dani Pedrosa completing the top ten.
Tito Rabat got tucked in behind Lorenzo to set his best time of 1'55.686 while Maverick Vinales slumped to 12th after coming through qualifying one. The Movistar Yamaha man went quicker in Q1 than he managed in Q2 and will need a better start than he has managed of late to make up places tomorrow.
Franky Morbidelli took third place in Q2 so starts from 13th while Alvaro Bautista fell on his last lap of Q1 so missed out after setting the second-quickest time later on in the session. Bradley Smith completed the top 15.
Hafizh Syahrin fell in free practice four and had to settle for 16th while Jack Miller also crashed while on a lap fast enough to take a Q2 place in Q1.