Ducati MotoGP rider Marc Marquez took pole position for the Qatar Grand Prix as team-mate Pecco Bagnaia compromised his weekend with a poorly-timed crash.
Reigning champion Jorge Martin qualified 14th on his MotoGP return, his challenge for a Q2 spot ultimately coming up short as he didn't capitalise on his second rear tyre in Q1.
The big outlier from the session, Bagnaia, was down in a conspicuous ninth place after the initial Q1 runs, trailing Marc Marquez by seven tenths of a second but starting his second run early with a view to rectifying that.
Yet after going through the first sector with a promising partial time he crashed immediately at Turn 1, consigning himself to a spot on the fourth row.
Disaster for @PeccoBagnaia 😱 He crashes out at T4 at a crucial time 💥#QatarGP 🇶🇦 pic.twitter.com/81J1GPB37Z
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) April 12, 2025
The Marquez brothers fully capitalised on his misfortune - and delivered a nail-biter of a pole battle in the process.
A spectacular 1m50.600s from Alex Marquez put him in the pound seat, yet his brother - despite messing up his first flying lap on that second rear tyre - stuck back in the very final moment, stealing pole by a tenth with a 1m40.499s, which now stands as the fastest-ever MotoGP lap at Lusail.
Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo was a dazzling third, just 0.260s off pole after a remarkable lap, which allowed him to see off both Morbidelli and Morbidelli's VR46 team-mate Fabio Di Giannantonio.
And while it wasn't quite Quartararo-level heroics, Maverick Vinales impressed too as the lead KTM in sixth, as did Johann Zarco as the lead Honda in seventh.
Rookie Fermin Aldeguer and Quartararo's Yamaha team-mate Alex Rins will join Zarco on the third row.
Q1 dominator Ai Ogura was 10th - and would've been seventh had he matched his Q1 laptime.
The only reprieve Bagnaia got after his crash was that KTM rider Pedro Acosta never fully strung his lap together, ending up at the back end of the Q2 classification.
Qatar GP provisional grid
1 M Marquez 2 A Marquez 3 Quartararo
4 Morbidelli 5 Di Giannantonio 6 Vinales
7 Zarco 8 Aldeguer 9 Rins
10 Ogura 11 Bagnaia 12 Acosta
13 Bezzecchi 14 Martin 15 Marini
16 Miller 17 R Fernandez 18 Binder
19 A Fernandez 20 Bastianini 21 Mir
22 Chantra
Four Aprilias looked in the mix for Q2 during Q1, but only Ogura delivered - with his nearest rival within the camp, Marco Bezzecchi, ending up 0.449s off and half a tenth off the second transfer spot occupied by Rins.
Martin had been ahead of Bezzecchi after the first runs but ended up a tenth back - 14th on the grid - while Luca Marini will join them on row five in the Honda.
Two KTM riders whose race pace is usually strong were let down by qualifying, with Brad Binder in 18th and his Tech3 counterpart Enea Bastianini two places down - and the impressive stand-in Augusto Fernandez between them for Pramac Yamaha.
Marini's factory Honda team-mate Joan Mir was 21st, and subsequently withdrew from the sprint due to gastroenteritis.
He will attempt to race in the grand prix on Sunday, his condition set to be reviewed after the morning warm-up.
