ALCANIZ, Spain // MotoGP leader Marc Marquez edged Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa to take pole position with a record qualifying time at the Aragon Grand Prix on Saturday.
The Spaniard smashed his own previous record in taking pole last year by 0.617sec to edge teammate and compatriot Dani Pedrosa in 1min 47.187sec.
Italy’s Andrea Iannone will also start on the front row in third.
Marquez leads the championship standings by a mammoth 74 points, but endured by far the worst race of his season so far in San Marino two weeks ago as an early crash saw him finish 15th. However, he is a heavy favourite to edge ever closer to his second world championship in as many years as a MotoGP rider with a 12th win of the season after a dominant qualifying session on home soil.
Marquez, 21, broke the track record on his first flying lap, but was usurped by Pedrosa midway through the session as he moved into provisional pole position.
Marquez was not to be denied, though, as he went over three tenths of a second quicker than Pedrosa on his final lap.
“Dani here is always really fast here,” Marquez said. “I have felt so good during the whole weekend and when I saw P2 on the board I knew I had to push a little bit more and it was enough for the pole.”
Nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi’s return to form with a first victory of the season in San Marino failed to continue as both Yamaha riders struggled to compete with the times set by the Hondas.
Rossi was marginally better than Jorge Lorenzo to sneak onto the second row of the grid alongside Spain’s Pol Espargaro in fourth and Britain’s Cal Crutchlow, in fifth.
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