Marc Marquez: Rigamonti said “maybe, it’s enough” - I said “maybe Quartararo…”

Denied pole position by Fabio Quartararo in front of his home crowd at Jerez, Marc Marquez was on course to return the favour at Le Mans, until the Frenchman rose to the occasion and sent the crowd into raptures on his final lap.

Speaking afterwards, Marquez insisted he knew Quartararo remained a threat for pole, despite smashing the Le Mans MotoGP lap record early in Saturday’s qualifying session.

The Frenchman began the final run 0.350s behind the factory Ducati rider, then, like Marquez, lost his next flying lap to yellow flags.

Quartararo even found himself pushed off the front row but kept his composure to shatter his own previous best by 0.468s and snatch pole away from Marquez on the last lap.

“Fabio is riding in an incredible way, he deserved this pole position in front of his fans,” said Marquez. “He's doing an amazing job, already in Jerez he was super fast.

“Today he was fast again and when I stopped in the box [mid-session] we were talking about my time, and [crew chief Marco] Rigamonti said to me, ‘Maybe, it’s enough’. I said ‘I think Quartararo will be faster’ and in the end, he was faster.

“I tried [to fight back], but I pushed a bit too much on that last sector and I lost time. But apart from that, I’m happy with my pace, happy to start on the front row, which was the main target.”

Quartararo’s final pole margin was 0.118s.

“It was amazing to really make this pole position,” said Quartararo. “Thanks to all of the [fans] to be really here to supporting us. It's a really important pole position but the points are this afternoon and on Sunday but we will give our maximum to make [the fans] enjoy.”

“Fabio's a champion, it’s what he’s able to do”

Championship leader Alex Marquez rounded out the front row and praised both his brother and Quartararo for their performances so far.

“I’m really happy to be on the front row here. I mean these two guys are making a really good weekend, especially Marc but also Fabio is doing a great job and he did I think his perfect lap, in the right moment,” said Alex.

“He's a champion, it’s what he’s able to do. But I’m really happy with our performance, we did a step compared to yesterday, so we are ready for the Sprint.”

After fumbling his Sprint chances with an early crash while being overtaken by Marc Marquez at Jerez, Quartararo will be out to end the Spaniard's perfect Sprint victory run this afternoon.