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By: Matt Beer

Summary

Status: Stopped
That's a wrap from qualifying for the inaugural Thailand Grand Prix. See you tomorrow to see if Yamaha can return to winning ways, or at least get a podium, or it's another thrilling duel between Marquez and Dovizioso.  
Thailand MotoGP: Marquez shades Rossi by 0.011s for pole
Marquez: "I was quite disappointed to be in Q1 because during all weekend I feel really good with the bike but we had a problem in FP3 with the bike. I go out to push for the laptime, but when I go in to change the bike, was no time, the front tyre was the hard with many laps and then I crash, I wasn't able to be on the Q2 directly. But okay, this can happen when you work for the race. Sometimes we say 'ah, we are working the strategy, is good', but also is some risk. Today I paid the risk but anyway we were able to go to Q2 and good laptime, so looking forward to tomorrow because it will be a long race."
Rossi: "I feel good with the bike already from yesterday. But today we did some modify, and we follow the right way. I am happy because the bike improved a lot. Looks like that in this track we are able to make the tyre work in a good way so I can ride at the limit, the bike is good. I am very happy also because in FP4 with the race tyre I had good pace. I hope that we can do a good race and we can fight for the podium."
Dovizioso says Buriram is not so much a Ducati circuit as everyone expected: "Is always normal from the competitor, they have to say something like that. First part [of the circuit] is good for us, second part not too good. Anyway, we work in the right way because in the first practice to now, we improve a lot. Really difficult here, the layout is strange, we have to keep a lot of angle, the consumption of the tyre is very high, I don't know really what we can expect in the race, but the speed is there. That is the most important thing. First row, I am really happy."
Marquez is the first rider in MotoGP history to take pole position after coming through Q1.
Final Q2 order: Marquez; Rossi; Dovizioso; Vinales; Crutchlow; Iannone; Pedrosa; Zarco; Petrucci; Miller; Rins; Bautista.
Dovizioso is third, a perfect position to start the race from and fight for the win. Vinales in fourth confirms that Yamaha is indeed strong in Thailand.
Rossi misses out on first place by just 0.011s, but he should still be happy with that. It is his first front row start since Brno, which was in August.
Nobody left to challenge Marquez, he takes his fourth pole of the season!
Chequered flag.
Dovizioso fastest three sectors into the lap, but was not strong enough in the last section and he is only third. No improvements from Marquez nor Rossi.
Marquez is back ahead, but his lead is only 0.011s!
Rossi into the lead with two minutes remaining, but Marquez looks set to also improve.
Vinales stayed out on track during the mid-session lull, but he couldn't improve and as he made a bike swap in the pits, his body language was anything but happy.
As most of the riders have returned to the pits, the order is: Marquez; Dovizioso; Miller; Petrucci; Rossi; Vinales; Zarco; Iannone; Crutchlow; Pedrosa; Bautista; Rins.
Indeed, it is a 1m30.356s from Marquez. He is currently followed by Ducati trio Dovizioso, Miller and Petrucci.
Several riders improve, but nobody can dethrone Marquez, who is set to to go even faster.
Straight out of Q1, Marquez leads with his first flyer, a 1m30.528s. Petrucci and Vinales not far behind.
Everyone except Rins is on a soft rear tyre, but there is more variety regarding the front. Dovizioso is the sole rider with a soft while all three Hondas are using the hard compound.
Q2 underway.
Dovizioso, Marquez and Lorenzo have not only dominated the races recently, one of those three have topped each of the last eight qualifying sessions. There is no better time to shake things up than a brand new track on the calendar, though.
Q2 line-up: Dovizioso; Miller; Vinales; Crutchlow; Petrucci; Pedrosa; Rossi; Iannone; Zarco; Bautista; Marquez; Rins.
Impressive from Avintia Ducati's Jordi Torres, who beat two riders in his only second MotoGP qualifying session.
Q1 results: Marquez; Rins; Morbidelli; Nakagami; Smith; A. Espargaro; Abraham; Syahrin; P. Espargaro; Simeon; Torres; Luthi; Redding.
Q1 over, it is Marquez and Rins advancing to Q2. Heartbreak for Morbidelli and Nakagami as they both narrowly miss out on second.
Another improvement from Morbidelli allows him to move up to second, but Rins is able to fight back. He beats the Honda rookie by 0.002s!
Marquez does a 1m30.031s, and with Rins failing to improve, the Honda rider's lead is up to 0.948s. Morbidelli up to third, just 0.003s shy of Rins!
Just two minutes on the clock as the riders begin their last flying laps. What do you know, it's a fastest first sector from Marquez.
Behind Marquez and Rins, the order is currently Nakagami, Morbidelli, A. Espargaro, Syahrin, Smith, Abraham, P. Espargaro, Simeon, Luthi, Torres and Redding, who is yet to set a representative time.
On paper, Rins should be the favourite to go to Q2 alongside Marquez, as the Suzuki is clearly fast enough. His teammate Iannone was eighth and fifth in Saturday's two practice sessions.
Marquez posts a 1m30.460s to further solidify his lead. Suzuki's Rins is second at the moment, but his position is a lot less secure.
Marquez is wasting no time, he is fastest by over seven tenths with a 1m30.521s.
The 15-minute Q1 has just kicked off.
Q1 line-up: Marquez; Morbidelli; Smith; P. Espargaro; A. Espargaro; Rins; Nakagami; Syahrin; Luthi; Simeon; Redding; Abraham; Torres.
One thing is certain, we'll have a new pole-sitter for the first time in four rounds, as Jorge Lorenzo will miss the Thailand Grand Prix.
His participation was already at risk before the weekend after dislocating a toe and fracturing the second metatarsal on his right foot in a crash at Aragon.
In the end, he was passed fit, but then he shunted in the second Thailand practice, suffering contusions to his left wrist and right ankle, and Lorenzo decided not to push the envelope any further.
Chequered flag in FP4, and it is Dovizioso topping the third consecutive session. He leads Marquez by 0.283s, then it's Rossi and Vinales.
Speaking of Marquez, the big talking point coming into qualifying is him having to battle through Q1.
As it's usually the case with Marquez, he didn't make it because he was not fast enough - it's the result of a mistake and then a crash at the end of FP3, which left the championship favourite only 11th overall.
It is the very first time MotoGP visits this circuit, or Thailand for that matter, which makes it difficult to predict who will have the upper hand this weekend, but the layout gives us a few hints.
One half of the track is basically only straights, which suits Ducati, but the other half is a lot slower and twistier, perhaps benefitting Honda.
And yet it was Yamaha taking a 1-2 in MotoGP's first ever session in Thailand and Maverick Vinales impressed in FP2 and FP3 as well.
If Vinales puts his bike on the front row - and by some miracle has a good start - he could be well placed to end the recent domination of Ducati and Marc Marquez.
Welcome to our live coverage of MotoGP qualifying at Buriram, as the championship begins its four-race stint outside of Europe.

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