Marc Marquez grabs another Moto2 pole at Catalunya

The 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.

Pos  Rider                Team/Bike              Time       Gap
 1.  Marc Marquez         Monlau Suter           1m46.187s
 2.  Pol Espargaro        Pons Kalex             1m46.382s  + 0.195s
 3.  Thomas Luthi         Paddock Suter          1m46.430s  + 0.243s
 4.  Andrea Iannone       Speed Master Speed Up  1m46.477s  + 0.290s
 5.  Simone Corsi         Ioda FTR               1m46.816s  + 0.629s
 6.  Dominique Aegerter   Technomag-CIP Suter    1m46.844s  + 0.657s
 7.  Scott Redding        Marc VDS Kalex         1m46.866s  + 0.679s
 8.  Toni Elias           Aspar Suter            1m47.107s  + 0.920s
 9.  Esteve Rabat         Pons Kalex             1m47.107s  + 0.920s
10.  Alex de Angelis      Forward Suter          1m47.115s  + 0.928s
11.  Jordi Torres         Tech 3                 1m47.239s  + 1.052s
12.  Takaaki Nakagami     Italtrans Kalex        1m47.275s  + 1.088s
13.  Bradley Smith        Tech 3                 1m47.423s  + 1.236s
14.  Johann Zarco         JIR Motobi             1m47.427s  + 1.240s
15.  Nicolas Terol        Aspar Suter            1m47.468s  + 1.281s
16.  Claudio Corti        Italtrans Kalex        1m47.583s  + 1.396s
17.  Julian Simon         Avintia Suter          1m47.631s  + 1.444s
18.  Roberto Rolfo        Technomag-CIP Suter    1m47.646s  + 1.459s
19.  Mika Kallio          Marc VDS Kalex         1m47.654s  + 1.467s
20.  Randy Krummenacher   Switzerland Kalex      1m47.753s  + 1.566s
21.  Angel Rodriguez      SAG Bimota             1m47.841s  + 1.654s
22.  Yuki Takahashi       Forward Suter          1m47.843s  + 1.656s
23.  Gino Rea             Gresini Suter          1m48.041s  + 1.854s
24.  Mike di Meglio       Speed Master Speed Up  1m48.060s  + 1.873s
25.  Ricard Cardus        Arguinano AJR          1m48.074s  + 1.887s
26.  Max Neukirchner      Kiefer Kalex           1m48.090s  + 1.903s
27.  Ratthapark Wilairot  Gresini Suter          1m48.096s  + 1.909s
28.  Axel Pons            Pons Kalex             1m48.453s  + 2.266s
29.  Anthony West         QMMF Moriwaki          1m48.751s  + 2.564s
30.  Alexander Lundh      MZ                     1m49.081s  + 2.894s
31.  Marco Colandrea      SAG FTR                1m49.740s  + 3.553s
32.  Elena Rosell         QMMF Moriwaki          1m50.478s  + 4.291s