Motegi MotoGP qualifying
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Green flag
The fight for pole is GO!
In the dry conditions of Friday, Yamaha riders Quartararo (Petronas SRT) and Vinales had an edge over the rest. But, Marquez is a demon in these changeable conditions.
Only three riders have taken pole position this year. Marquez has nine (Argentina, USA, France, Italy, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, GBR, Aragon), Quartararo has four (Spain, Barcelona, Assen, Thailand) and Vinales (Qatar, Misano).
Crutchlow and Rins will be ones to watch in Q2. They've had 15 minutes more track time than those who made direct passage into Q2, so will be able to push straight away in this session.
Good effort from Nakagami in Q1. He's been suffering more than he has let on with the shoulder injury he picked up at Assen in his tangle with Valentino Rossi. Home crowd rightly giving the LCR rider a massive round of applause.
Bagnaia will start 14th from Pol Espargaro, Oliveira, Kallio, Abraham, Lorenzo, Syahrin, Guintoli, Iannone, Rabat - who did not set a time.
Stopwatch
Crutchlow cements top spot with a 1m46.695s. He and Rins go through to Q2, Nakagami will start 13th after a heartbreaking denial of 0.034s in the end.
Rins crosses the line and does it! He finds time in sector four and is up to second. Nakagami has taken the flag - it's over for him.
Crutchlow on another quick lap. Rins's lap isn't going to put him into Q2 at this rate.
Checkered flag
Chequered flag is out.
Rins needs to pull his finger out. He's not far away in sector one.
Stopwatch
Crutchlow navigates his way round the final few corners and produces a 1m46.825s.
Rins moves up to second, but Crutchlow is on a flier again.
Stopwatch
Nakagami delights the home crowd with a 1m46.998s.
Stopwatch
Crutchlow takes over top spot with a 1m47.306s. Half a second clear now with just over two minutes to go. But, a lot of fast sectors coming in now.
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Crutchlow going quickly at the start of his second run. Had a good end to FP4, so this form isn't surprising.
These mixed conditions really do not suit Jorge Lorenzo, whose already battered confidence hasn't taken much of a step forward. He's last in this session, some 3.1s off the pace.
Conditions are improving all the time, as perfectly demonstrated by Bagnaia, who runs on at Turn 1.
Rins moves back up to third, just 0.070s down on Crutchlow in second.
Stopwatch
Nakagami goes top with a 1m47.877s. It's an LCR Honda 1-2 with eight minutes to go.
Autosport
Nakagami heads out on track. This will be his last qualifying session of the year, as he will sit out the rest of the season to recover from surgery on his shoulder he will be having after this weekend. In his place will come ousted KTM man Johann Zarco: 
Green flag
Q1 is go and all are heading out of slicks, unsurprisingly.
Interesting morning for the Suzuki test team. Guintoli had his Friday laptimes deleted this morning for using a non-homologated engine. He was testing a 2020 prototype engine, which offered up some positive feedback.
Due to some pain in his wrist, Avintia isn't expecting Rabat to head out on track in qualifying in order to rest before a punishing race on Sunday. Motegi is full of hard braking zones - the worst place for someone carrying a wrist injury.
Information
FP3 was run in soaking wet conditions, so the Q1 runners were decided in FP2 on Friday. They are:
Rins
Crutchlow
Pol Espargaro
Bagnaia
Nakagami
Abraham
Lorenzo
Oliveira
Guintoli
Iannone
Rabat
Kallio
Syahrin
Rins
Crutchlow
Pol Espargaro
Bagnaia
Nakagami
Abraham
Lorenzo
Oliveira
Guintoli
Iannone
Rabat
Kallio
Syahrin
FP4 has just come to a close, with the new world champion Marc Marquez leading the session with a 1m48.940s in a session which transitioned from wet to dry.
FP4 has just come to a close, with the new world champion Marc Marquez leading the session with a 1m48.940s in a session which transitioned from wet to dry.
Green flag
Good morning and welcome to live coverage of qualifying for the MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix.
By: Matt Beer
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