Phillip Island MotoGP: Marc Marquez on pole, Cal Crutchlow second

Practice pacesetter Jorge Lorenzo completed the front row, with Dani Pedrosa behind Bradley Smith in fifth despite having to come through Q1.

Pedrosa's elevation from Q1 was swiftly achieved, as he set the fastest time in the session by a second just before a brief rain shower stopped anyone else improving.

The Spaniard then put his Honda on provisional pole in Q2, which took place on a completely dry track as the rain had quickly passed.

Lorenzo deposed Pedrosa by two tenths of a second when the second runs started, but he was on pole for only moments before Crutchlow beat him by 0.008s.

Both would be denied by 2014 champion Marquez. The Honda rider came through 0.234s faster than Crutchlow to secure his 12th pole of the year.

Although two minutes still remained, no one had sufficient tyre life to produce better laps, with Lorenzo hinting at a pole lap in his first two sectors before fading.

Second for Crutchlow was his best qualifying result since joining Ducati, beating the previous high of fifth on the Assen and Aragon grids.

Smith jumped to fourth for Tech 3 Yamaha late on, just 0.006s off a front row position, pushing Pedrosa back to fifth.

Valentino Rossi had a quiet session and could only manage eighth, behind Aleix Espargaro and Andrea Iannone. Motegi pacesetter Andrea Dovizioso was back in 10th.

Hiroshi Aoyama capitalised on the shower to join Pedrosa in moving on from Q1 and will start 12th.

Riders caught out by the rain included Alvaro Bautista and Yonny Hernandez, who ended up 17th and 18th.

Format: Q1 sets 13th-23rd, top two into Q2, which sets 1st-12th