MotoGP: Spain's Marc Marquez on pole for French GP ahead of Jorge Lorenzo
Championship leader Marc Marquez has secured pole position for Sunday's French MotoGP at Le Mans.
Last Updated: 18/05/13 5:08pm
The Spaniard edged out compatriot and reigning world champion Jorge Lorenzo by just 0.03 seconds to claim his second pole in the elite class and the 30th of his career.
Andrea Dovizioso completed the top three as he landed his first front row since joining Ducati and a first since the Malaysian GP last season.
Britain's Cal Crutchlow crashed out in the fourth practice session but still came close to earning a spot on the front row, eventually having to settle for fourth, six one hundreths behind Dovizioso.
Germany's Stefan Bradl finished in fifth, with Dani Pedrosa back in sixth on his factory Honda.
Marquez currently leads fellow Spaniard Pedrosa by three points in the overall standings ahead of Sunday's race, which is the fourth of the season.
Marquez admitted he was delighted with pole after having fallen in the earlier practice session.
"I was on my second bike, but to build that confidence again after a crash is quite difficult," he said.
"It takes time. I took one or two laps, but then it was qualifying and I pushed like before. In terms of my rhythm, I'm happy. Jorge had a very good rhythm but, you know, we will see how the weather and everything is tomorrow and we will try to do our best."
Lorenzo, who won the season-opener in Qatar, said Yamaha are closing in on the consistency he believes was missing at Jerez last time out.
"All weekend we have been working to improve the feeling with the front tyre - with which we had some difficulties in Jerez - in order to have a more consistent pace," he said.
"I think we got it. I was concentrating on doing a very fast lap but unfortunately I couldn't beat Marc today because he was really fast, but our main target for was to improve the bike for the race and I think we got it."
