An incredibly close first QP of the 2016 season saw Marc Marquez qualify on the front row with the field’s second best lap time (1’54.634), while Dani Pedrosa set the seventh fastest lap at 1’55.078, a fraction away from the second row.

Following a very positive FP4 session in which he posted a succession of laps in the mid 1’55 range, Marc had a solid first exit in Q2, setting a time that was just 91 thousandths down on what would prove to be Lorenzo’s pole time. After exiting the garage again, Marquez began his fast lap a couple of seconds too late, just missing out on the opportunity to improve.

Dani was fifth after the first run but was unable to make the most of his second tyre and had to settle for seventh.

The red lights for the Qatar GP will switch off tomorrow night at 9 p.m. local time.

Marc Marquez - 2nd 1'54.634

"I am happy. At first I thought I had taken pole, but when I got back the team told me that the chequered flag had already been shown before I began my lap. On the display I saw 1:54.2 and thought it was the pole time, but it didn’t count. We are satisfied with the feeling we have with the bike and how everything in general is going. At the end of Q2 we had a scare when making a practice start. Something happened and now we have to see what it was. We'll see tomorrow if we can keep this pace up, which I think will be good for the race."

Dani Pedrosa - 7th 1'55.078

"Today was not the best day for us. I've been trying to decide which tyres we will use tomorrow and I didn’t find a good pace in PF4. Later, in Q2, I started well but had a problem with the second tyre and could not improve my times. Unfortunately I dropped down a few places and I am not as high up the grid as I would like, but tomorrow we will be fully focused on having a good race."