MotoGP Rio Hondo: Marc Marquez beats Suzuki's Espargaro to pole

Marquez never looked like being beaten to pole at the Termas de Rio Hondo track.

His initial provisional pole margin in Q2 was just under three tenths of a second, but as his rivals edged closer, he pulled his Honda half a second clear with a wild and spectacular 1m37.873s lap.

No one else got near that, but just for good measure Marquez hopped onto his second bike for a final run and improved by another 0.035s.

Suzuki was quickest in both Friday practice sessions and Espargaro maintained that strong form to grab second on the grid late on.

He was 0.514s off Marquez, but 0.151s ahead of Ducati rider Andrea Iannone in the final front row slot.

Cal Crutchlow - Marquez's closest rival in practice three - came within 0.018s of making it onto the front row as he ended up fourth.

It was a disappointing session for Yamaha - Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi qualified only fifth and eighth, split by the Ducatis of Andrea Dovizioso and Danilo Petrucci.

Tech 3 rider Bradley Smith made it into 10th after being Q1 pacesetter, but his team-mate Pol Espargaro made a mistake in the first part of qualifying and will start only 18th.

Suzuki got both bikes onto the first three rows, with rookie Maverick Vinales ninth.

Hector Barbera followed Smith through Q1 and completed the Q2 pack behind Scott Redding in 12th.

Marco Melandri managed to get off the back of the grid for the first time since returning to MotoGP, beating Alex de Angelis to 24th, but he ended Q1 pushing his Aprilia across the grass.

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