MotoGP world champion and present series leader Marc Marquez took pole position for the fifth successive race on Saturday, qualifying fastest for Sunday’s French Grand Prix.
The 21-year-old Spanish Honda rider, who was second in the race last year, secured the 42nd pole position of his career ahead of compatriot Pol Espargaro (Yamaha Tech3) and Italy’s Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati).
Marquez has carried all before him this season winning all four races and, should he win on Sunday, he would match Italian great Giacomo Agostini’s five straight wins to open the 1972 season.
It would also make him the youngest ever rider to win five successive races in the premier class, taking the record from Mike Hailwood who was 22 years and 160 days old when he won five successive races in the 500 class in 1962.
Marquez was immediately on the pace on Saturday with his time of 1min 32.567sec becoming a new qualifying record.
But things got even better when the world champion improved to another record time of 1min 32.042sec to maintain his 100 per cent qualifying record in 2014.
Marquez was 0.692sec clear of rookie Espargaro who secured his best MotoGP grid result to date in just his fifth elite class race.
Dovizioso qualified 0.713sec behind Marquez to take the final spot on the front row.
The second row features Stefan Bradl on a Honda with Valentino Rossi, a three-time Le Mans winner, and his factory Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo 0.857sec off pole in sixth place.
“I’m quite happy, especially after Friday which was a disaster. I wasn’t able to ride the bike in a good way then, but today with my team we improved the setting a lot and I’m satisfied,” said Rossi.
“I’m always fast. I have a good pace and a good setting so I like the bike. In the qualifying I had the potential to be on the front row but at the end it’s ok like this.”
He added: “I’m in fifth ahead of Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa and I think they will be great rivals. Marc Marquez is also very fast, but I can fight with them.”
Making up an all Spanish the third row are Alvaro Bautista, Aleix Espargaro and Marquez’s Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa who won the race in 2013.
German rider Jonas Folger secured the fifth pole position of his career when he was fastest on his Kalex in qualifying for the Moto2 event.
The 20-year-old, who is in 11th position in the championship standings, edged out Spanish duo Esteve Rabat and Luis Salom, both also on Kalex bikes
Efren Vazquez of Spain will start in pole position for the Moto3.
Vazquez, third in the world championship, steered his Honda to the front of the grid for the fifth race of the season, ahead of championship leader Jack Miller of Australia, on a KTM, and fellow Spaniard Alex Rins, on another Honda.
