Sachsenring MotoGP: Marquez scorches to pole, Rossi down in sixth

Riding the same specification of Honda as he did when he took pole position here last year, Marquez rode a record-setting pace to eclipse his pole time from 2014.

It is his sixth successive pole position at the German venue across the classes he’s contested.

Suzuki’s Aleix Espargaro set the very early pace at 1m21.432s before Marquez slammed in the fastest-ever two-wheeled lap around this circuit of 1m20.838s.

Andrea Iannone was second fastest for Ducati at that point, 0.431s down on Marquez, with points leader Valentino Rossi third – but over half a second down.

As the session came to a close, Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo jumped up from sixth to second on 1m20.921s, getting within 0.083s of Marquez.

The second Repsol Honda of Dani Pedrosa then briefly grabbed pole with 1m20.628s, before Marquez put him in his place with a stunning 1m20.336s.

Lorenzo stayed third, ahead of Iannone and the impressive Yonny Hernandez, whose Pramac Ducati came through from Q1.

Rossi will start sixth, ahead of Aleix and Pol Espargaro.

Bradley Smith, who had a disastrous time here last year with series of crashes, had a huge save at the penultimate corner as he was almost ejected from the seat of his Tech 3 Yamaha.

He will start ninth, ahead of Cal Crutchlow, a disappointing Andrea Dovizioso and Maverick Vinales.

Pedrosa and Crutchlow almost came to blows during the session after the Spaniard, on a quick lap, tripped over the Briton, who made a late call to enter the pits.