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World champion Marc Marquez claimed the first pole position of the 2014 MotoGP season despite having only returned to action, after breaking his leg in pre-season, during Thursday's free practice.
The Repsol Honda rider finished 0.57 seconds ahead of Gresini Honda's Alvaro Bautista. It was also a day to remember for Britain's Bradley Smith who qualified a career best third, outpacing Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso, last season's championship runner-up Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa.
It was a disappointing day for Ducati debutant Cal Crutchlow. The Britain, who was one of the stars of the 2013 season struggled to get his new bike on the pace and will start from eighth, behind Germany's Stefan Bradl.
It was also not the start to season that Valentino Rossi would have been looking for either. The Italian maestro will start tenth ahead his Yamaha fell more than half a second off the pace of the front row. Despite his nine world titles, The Doctor will have to go some distance if he is to repeat his credible second place finish of last year.
NGM Forward Yamaha rider Aleix Espargaro had a session to forget. The Spaniard fought his bike on the way to a ninth place grid spot, but had to recover from two accidents during the session.
