Jerez MotoGP: Pedrosa wins tough all-Honda pole fight with Marquez

With the Honda pair having led every session at Jerez leading up to qualifying, the 15 minutes was a shootout between them.

Marquez laid down an early marker with a 1m38.300s, two tenths clear of the field when he headed to the pits to change bikes for the first time.

Pedrosa then improved to cut that margin to 0.031 seconds, making a mistake in the final sector that looked set to cost him top spot.

While Marquez did not improve on his second run in he middle of the session, he still led the way entering the final five minutes, when the riders that only pitted once headed back out.

Cal Crutchlow was the first rider to make a move, the LCR Honda man jumping from seventh to third, as Valentino Rossi improved on his Yamaha from 11th to seventh.

Pedrosa claimed top spot inside the final minute, turning a 1m38.249s as Marquez - running immediately behind him on the road - failed to improve.

That meant Pedrosa was 0.051s clear as the chequered flag was shown, but the reigning world champion had time to push for one more lap.

Marquez was up on Pedrosa through the first three sectors but lost time with a slide late in the lap, improving to a 1m38.298s but falling 0.049s shy of pole.

The 29th pole position of Pedrosa's MotoGP career is his first since the 2015 Malaysian GP in October of that year.

Crutchlow remained third, completing a Honda lock out of the front row, with Maverick Vinales best of the rest.

The Yamaha rider finished 0.428s slower than Pedrosa, while Suzuki's Andrea Iannone progressed from Q1 to qualify fifth, ahead of Tech3 Yamaha rookie Johann Zarco.

Rossi will start seventh, in front of Ducati's Jorge Lorenzo, Zarco's team-mate Jonas Folger, Jack Miller, Scott Redding and Aleix Espargaro.

Marc VDS Honda's Miller and Espargaro - the other rider to progress from Q1 on his Aprilia - both crashed at Turn 2 late in the session.

Led by Pol Espargaro, the KTMs will start 15th and 16th, the brand's previous-best qualifying result having been 18th.

Espargaro missed out on KTM's maiden Q2 appearance by 0.192s.

QUALIFYING RESULTS: