Marc Marquez will be gunning to keep his 100% sprint record in 2025 alive on Saturday at the MotoGP Americas Grand Prix after qualifying on pole.
The wet and mixed weather on Friday have been replaced by dry conditions on Saturday at the Circuit of the Americas, with championship leader Marc Marquez coming into day two of the third round having set the pace in practice.
Suffering his first crash as a factory Ducati rider this season in the wet FP1, Marquez's confidence was not dented in the slightest as he went over seven tenths faster than the field in Practice.
He remains the rider to beat at COTA, a venue at which he has won seven grands prix.
VR46's Fabio Di Giannantonio put in some fast late laps in Practice to move into Q2, and went on to qualify on the front row for the first time since Qatar 2023, while the Gresini Ducati of Alex Marquez completed the front row.
Pecco Bagnaia was 1.5s off team-mate Marc Marquez at the end of Practice, and struggled in qualifying as he could only manage sixth.
Already 31 points off the championship lead, he will need to make a big step on Saturday to stop that gap growing significantly in the sprint.
The sprint begins at 8pm GMT.
Read the full qualifying report for the 2025 MotoGP Americas Grand Prix here
Marc Marquez's lap will stand as he was ahead of the yellow flag zone, so he takes pole in Austin.
Di Giannantonio's lap has been reinstated, so he is second from Alex Marquez.
Acosta is third from Morbidelli and Bagnaia. Marini, Mir, Miller, Vinales, Quartararo and Aldeguer complete the top 12.
Acosta is up to third as the chequered flag is out.
Mir has crashed while chasing Marc Marquez.
Marquez might have that lap taken from him due to yellow flags though.
Marc Marquez blows everyone away with a 2m01.088s.
Morbidelli up to third.
Alex Marquez goes top! He's just put in a 2m01.448s and did that lap on his own.
I suspect, given the pace Alex Marquez is on right now, Bagnaia wanted to get out of his way to avoid towing him.
Both Marc Marquez and Mir were on good laps but it's gone away for both in sector two. Bagnaia bailed from this lap at Turn 1 for some reason.
Aldeguer has slid off at Turn 1. He's back on his bike now.
Mir has followed Marc Marquez out of pitlane. Bagnaia is now on his way out too. He has Alex Marquez in his orbit.
After a brief visit to pitlane, Marc Marquez is back out to try and cement a third pole of 2025.
Just over six minutes to go now in Q2.
Mir was on a great lap a few moments ago but had a big slide going through Turn 19 and almost dumped it.
Opening runs done, Marc Marquez is on provisional pole from Di Giannantonio and Bagnaia.
A.Marquez is fourth from Mir, Vinales, Quartararo, Acosta, Morbidelli, Aldeguer, Marini, Miller.
Quartararo jumping up to seventh on his first lap straight out of Q1 is a very good effort.
Great opening gambit from Di Giannantonio to get himself into second on his VR46-run GP25.
Marc Marquez was on a good second lap but ran wide into Turn 12, so this time is gone.
Better start for Bagnaia. He's up to third with a 2m01.741s, so not afr off Marquez.
Alex Marquez is fourth from Mir, Vinales, Quartararo, Aldeguer, Morbidelli, Miller and Marini.
10 minutes to go.
Marc Marquez sets the pace at 2m01.522s, which is the fastest lap of the weekend so far. But Di Giannantonio is just 0.168s behind.
Marc Marquez has got Alex Marquez in tow on this first lap.
The pole shootout is go!
Positive day for the Japanese brands so far, with two Hondas and two Yamahas in Q2 now.
