Quartararo takes Thailand MotoGP pole, Marquez, Rossi fallers

Full Thailand MotoGP qualifying results

Fabio Quartararo has set a new lap record at the Chang International Circuit to take pole position for the Thailand MotoGP ahead of fellow Yamaha rider Maverick Vinales, as the Petronas Yamaha rider, Marc Marquez and Valentino Rossi all crash during qualifying.

The French rider has clinched his fourth pole of his rookie MotoGP campaign with a stunning 1m 29.719s, while he tipped off at Turn 5 on his final lap pushing to go even faster, but his initial lap was enough to keep hold of top spot.

Vinales used his final lap to move up to second place on the Monster Yamaha, 0.106s behind Quartararo, which pushed Marquez back to third place after the reigning MotoGP world champion lost control of the front of his Repsol Honda at Turn 5.

Franco Morbidelli grabbed the front of the second row to cap a stellar performance at Petronas Yamaha with Q1 graduate Danilo Petrucci charging to fifth place for Ducati.

Jack Miller rounds out row two for Pramac Ducati just in front of Andrea Dovizioso in seventh place, with the factory Ducati rider needing to avoid being outscored by two points by Marquez to keep the MotoGP world title race alive.

With Suzuki’s Joan Mir taking eighth place, Valentino Rossi saw his charge restrained to ninth place for Monster Yamaha after being the first rider to fall at Turn 5 during Q2. The Italian rider was able to make it back to the pits to use his second bike to improve on his personal best to complete the third row.

That saw Alex Rins shuffled to 10^th place for Suzuki ahead of Red Bull KTM’s Pol Espargaro with his brother Aleix Espargaro taking 12^th place for Aprilia.

Cal Crutchlow gave his all, almost coming off in a high-speed fall at the final corner on his last lap in Q1, but he just missed out on progressing into Q2 at the expense of Red Bull KTM’s Espargaro by 0.013s.

The LCR Honda rider’s team-mate Takaaki Nakagami will line up directly behind him with Francesco Bagnaia completing row five for Pramac Ducati after the Italian tumbled off at Turn 7 on his final lap.

Andrea Iannone claimed 16^th place on the grid for Aprilia ahead of Miguel Oliveira on the Tech3 KTM.

With Tito Rabat in 18^th place for Avintia Ducati, Jorge Lorenzo’s woes for Repsol Honda continued down in 19^th and over six-tenths of a second off progressing into Q2. The five-time world champion set the fastest first sector time in Q1, exploiting the top speed advantage of his Honda, but in the twisty and technical sections his lap fell apart.

Karel Abraham (Avintia Ducati), Hafizh Syahrin (Tech3 KTM) and Mika Kallio (Red Bull KTM) complete the grid for the Thailand MotoGP.