Maverick Vinales took pole position in a dramatic Aragon MotoGP qualifying as Marc Marquez crashed, while Valentino Rossi secured a shock front row start.
Joint championship leader Marquez suffered a small off at Turn 3 during fourth practice, but showed no signs of this slowing him down as he shot to the top of the timesheets with a 1m48.438s on his first flying lap in Q2.
Q1 pacesetter Jorge Lorenzo deposed his compatriot, but for all of 30 seconds as the Honda rider posted the first sub 1m48s lap of the weekend – a 1m47.963s.
Fitted with a fresh soft slick for his final assault, Marquez was lighting up the timing screens when he pushed too hard into Turn 12 and tucked the front.
At the same time, Yamaha’s Rossi – just 23 days after suffering a double break of his right leg – took over top spot.
Marquez was able to rejoin, but immediately headed for pitlane, while Maverick Vinales stormed to a 1m47.635s to secure his first MotoGP pole in Spain and his fifth of the 2017 season.
Lorenzo jumped up to second at the death for his second Ducati front row start, missing a maiden pole for the Italian manufacturer by just a tenth of a second. Rossi completed the front row.
Cal Crutchlow brushed off a fall in fourth practice to head the second row on his LCR Honda from the factory duo of Marquez and Dani Pedrosa, while joint championship leader Andrea Dovizioso will start from seventh.
Aleix Espargaro guided his Aprilia to eighth ahead of Alvaro Bautista, who was unable to improve on ninth after a late fall at Turn 9. Andrea Iannone rounded out the top 10.
Johann Zarco followed Lorenzo around in Q1 to progress into the second session, though the Frenchman could only manage 11th in the end. KTM wildcard Mika Kallio was left stranded in 12th after a late crash.
Jack Miller was inside the top two as the final seconds of Q1 counted down, but a last-gasp effort from Zarco pushed the Australian down to 13th ahead of Pol Espargaro and Karel Abraham.
Danilo Petrucci looked out of sorts on his Pramac GP17 and will start 16th, with Loris Baz and Jonas Folger – who had to visit the local hospital for precautionary checks after his nasty third practice crash – alongside on the sixth row.
A mistake at the Turn 14 chicane on his final lap stopped Hector Barbera from qualifying higher than 19th. Alex Rins, Tito Rabat, Scott Redding, Bradley Smith and Sam Lowes complete the 24-rider field.
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