Relentless Marquez surges to Argentina pole

World champion Marc Marquez will start the Grand Prix of Argentina from pole position following a stunning display in qualifying.

The Honda rider once again showed his class at the Termas Rio Hondo circuit by posting a session best time of 1:37.802s, which proved to be more than 0.5s quicker than his nearest rival.

Such was Marquez’s dominance, the 22-year-old had time to switch bikes during the session before going on to increase his pole position margin.

The battle for second proved to be hard fought with Suzuki’s Aleix Espargaro emerging on top just three events into the Japanese manufacturer’s return to grand prix motorcycle racing.

Second on the grid confirmed Espargaro and Suzuki’s pace after the Spaniard had topped the times in both practice sessions on Friday.

Ducati’s Andrea Iannone secured the final place on the front row of the grid as he pipped LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow by the slimmest of margins.

It proved to be a difficult session for Yamaha with two-time world champion Jorge Lorenzo fifth, while team-mate Valentino Rossi could only manage eighth, behind the Ducati’s of Andrea Dovizioso and Danilo Petrucci.

Meanwhile, Suzuki’s sister bike of Maverick Vinales and Tech 3 Yamaha rounded out the top 10.

Dani Pedrosa’s replacement Hiroshi Aoyama was a lowly 15th on the factory Honda.

Australia’s Jack Miller will start from 21st on the grid aboard the Open class LCR Honda.

Result: MotoGP Grand Prix of Argentina Qualifying 

Position	Rider	Team	Time	Gap
1	Marc Marquez	Honda	1:37.802s
2	Aleix Espargaro	Suzuki	1:38.316s	+0.514s
3	Andrea Iannone	Ducati	1:38.467s	+0.665s
4	Cal Crutchlow	LCR Honda	1:38.485s	+0.683s
5	Jorge Lorenzo	Yamaha	1:38.485s	+0.683s
6	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	1:38.520s	+0.718s
7	Danilo Petrucci	Pramac Ducati	1:38.786s	+0.984s
8	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	1:38.890s	+1.088s
9	Maverick Vinales	Suzuki	1:39.187s	+1.385s
10	Bradley Smith	Tech 3 Yamaha	1:39.197s	+1.395s
11	Scott Redding	Marc VDS Honda	1:39.380s	+1.578s
12	Hector Barbera	Avintia Ducati	1:40.526s	+2.724s
13	Yonny Hernandez	Pramac Ducati	1:39.405s	Q1
14	Eugene Laverty	Aspar Honda	1:39.434s	Q1
15	Hiroshi Aoyama	Honda	1:39.715s	Q1
16	Stefan Bradl	Forward Yamaha	1:39.734s	Q1
17	Karel Abraham	AB Honda	1:39.758s	Q1
18	Pol Espargaro	Tech 3 Yamaha	1:39.808s	Q1
19	Alvaro Bautista	Gresini Aprilia	1:39.828s	Q1
20	Nicky Hayden	Aspar Honda	1:39.876s	Q1
21	Jack Miller	LCR Honda	1:39.888s	Q1
22	Loris Baz	Forward Yamaha	1:39.972s	Q1
23	Mike Di Meglio	Avintia Ducati	1:40.133s	Q1
24	Marco Melandri	Gresini Aprilia	1:40.403s	Q1
25	Alex de Angelis	Ioda Aprilia	1:40.485s	Q1