Reigning MotoGP World Champion Marc Marquez, who was still in pain due to his leg injury, got the first pole position of the season in the Qatar Grand Prix.
The Q1 session dediced the last two riders that would fight for the pole position in Q2. Pol Espargaro and Cal Crutchlow went through setting their times in the first minutes of the session. Nicky Hayden was close to join the Q2 session, but the American finished in third place and he was out of the fight. Both Yonny Hernandez and Mike di Meglio suffered crashes without consequences for any of them.
Marc Marquez took the lead of the timesheets at the beginning of the Q2 session. Aleix Espargaro, who had dominated the times during the weekend, suffered a crash with eight minutes left on the clock. Bradley Smith was second and Alvaro Bautista was third before finishing their first stints.
With three minutes left, times started to drop when the riders ran in new tyres. Bautista set the fastest time when Aleix Espargaro crashed again with his second bike, which made him finish in ninth place. In the last lap, Marquez beat Bautista’s time and set a 1:54.507 that made him get the pole position only 57 thousandths ahead of his compatriot. Smith completed the first row alongside the two Honda riders. Dovizioso, Lorenzo and Pedrosa will start the race from the second row.