Frenchman Fabio Quartararo has earned pole position for the Thai MotoGP, posting a lap record in the process.
Quartararo, who clinched his fourth pole position of the season, lapped the Buriram circuit on Saturday in one minute and 29.719 seconds, breaking the record set by Spaniard Marc Marquez (1:30.031).
A heavy crash the Spaniard suffered early in free practice put him at the centre of attention.
Once the qualifying session was over, he headed directly to his team’s office without making his usual post-qualifying remarks.
Marquez made the most of the fourth free practice session to show that Friday’s mishap was nothing more than that.
He dominated almost the whole practice session only to see Quartararo grab top spot on the last lap, with the Frenchman 0.027s faster than the defending world champion.
During the first qualifying round, Italy’s Danilo Petrucci and Spaniard Pol Espargaro earned themselves places in the second session.
Having undergone surgery on a broken left arm, Espargaro decided to give himself a break until the final stretch of the second qualifying round after the good performance he put in.
By contrast, Marquez showed eagerness early in the second session as he was first to take to the track, posting a time of 1:30.649.
Quartararo made a statement lap that allowed him to take the lead, but his joy was short-lived as Spaniard Maverick Vinales was the fastest at that point with 1:30.332.
On the next lap, Marquez outpaced Vinales by posting a time of 1:30.109, while Quartararo set a new lap record with 1:29.920.
Italy’s Valentino Rossi hit the ground but managed to get back on track to end the session with a second motorcycle.
During his second outing, Marquez also crashed.
Quartararo will start off Sunday’s race alongside Vinales and Marquez.