Motorcycling-Aprilia's Martin sets lap record at Japanese MotoGP to snatch pole from Marquez

Aprilia's Jorge Martin set a lap record ​to grab pole position at the ​Japanese Grand Prix on Saturday ‌ahead ​of title rival and defending MotoGP champion Marc Marquez. Ducati's Marquez held provisional pole with his time of 1 minute ‌42.481 seconds, but a late scorching 1:42.371 from Martin catapulted the championship leader to the top of the timesheets.

"It's a situation that I'm getting used to, we struggle a ‌bit on Friday, then we do a great job trying to analyse well, ‌and then we make a big step on Saturday," Martin said. "That was the target. I didn't expect to fight for the pole position. I was aiming maybe for the first row, but I ⁠was ​able to do ⁠a great lap, honestly."

Martin leads Marquez by 12 points in the championship and will look to widen ⁠that gap in Saturday's sprint and Sunday's race. For Marquez, qualifying ended in frustration after a ​few late errors, including an excursion onto the gravel while pushing for a ⁠faster time.

"I'm happy, but of course, with that second tyre, too many mistakes. I was just able ⁠to ​push in the last lap, and again, another big mistake," he said. "Starting in the front row was the main target. Let's see if in the sprint ⁠race we can do a good pace."

KTM's Pedro Acosta, who claimed the first MotoGP ⁠victory of his ⁠career in the Austrian Grand Prix last month, completed the front row. Japan's Ai Ogura of Trackhouse Racing was 11th-quickest after topping ‌the first ‌qualifying session.