Marc Marquez flew to his maiden premier class Motegi pole position; holding off both Petronas SRT Yamaha machines to complete the feat. Conditions had improved markedly since the sodden FP3 session, with only damp patches remaining as the Q1 runners headed out on track-slicks now the order of the day. Marquez was the favourite for pole heading into qualifying despite never having scored pole at the Japanese venue before, and looked to be living up to this promise as he held a 0.567 advantage over Jack Miller after the opening runs. Things got juicy as the final runs began though, Marquez only going for one final flyer and improving on his benchmark by just 0.031 to set a 1:45.763 as the...
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