EurosportThe Spaniard had made a quiet start to his weekend in practice, but come qualifying was once again a force at the front, leading into the final 10 minutes when the majority of the frontrunners exited the pitlane in unison.
Championship leader Pol Espargaro (Pons Kalex) held first place for a fleeting moment but Marquez was soon back on top. The Monlau Suter man then shaved off almost one tenth from his own benchmark to move further clear of the field and ultimately claim a fourth pole in the opening five races.
Espargaro's effort was enough to hold second ahead of Thomas Luthi (Paddock Suter), the only man other than Marquez to have started from the front in 2012.
Andrea Iannone (Speed Master Speed Up) was the last man to get within three tenths of a second of Marquez's time, Simone Corsi (Ioda FTR) ending the session in fifth, 0.629s down.
Dominique Aegerter (Technomag-CIP Suter) and Scott Redding (Marc VDS Kalex) both got within five hundredths of Corsi's time, ending sixth and seventh.
Toni Elias (Aspar Suter) and Esteve Rabat (Pons Kalex) completed the third row.
Takaaki Nakagami (Italtrans Kalex) crashed with Ricard Cardus 15 minutes from the session's end, dropping outside the top 10 to 12th as a result.
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