125: Marquez fights back with Motegi pole

125: Marquez fights back with Motegi pole

Marc Marquez, who dropped from first to third in the world championship after being knocked off at turn one in Aragon, got his title attack back on track with his ninth pole of the season at Motegi in Japan.

The Red Bull Ajo Derbi rider finished the session a confident 0.417sec ahead of world championship leader Nico Terol, who heads the standings for the Aspar Aprilia team by six points over Pol Espargaro. Marquez is eleven points behind in third.

But Espargaro struggled on Saturday, completing only eleven laps, the best of which was nearly two seconds slower than Marquez.

Terol's team-mate Bradley Smith will start third, with Marquez's team-mate Sandro Cortese completing the front row. Cortese was just over one-second slower than his team-mate.

Qualifying - Motegi:

1. Marquez (Derbi) 1m 58.030s
2. Terol (Aprilia) +0.417s
3. Smith (Aprilia) +0.996s
4. Cortese (Derbi) +1.072s
5. Koyama (Aprilia) +1.179s
6. Rabat (Aprilia) +1.630s
7. Espargaro (Derbi) +1.843s
8. Grotzkyj (Aprilia) +1.961s
9. Moncayo (Aprilia) +2.147s
10. Vazquez (Derbi) +2.219s

13. Webb (Aprilia) +2.604s
16. Kent (Lambretta) +3.079s

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