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Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team) will start Sunday’s Gran Premio Movistar de Aragon from P1 after sealing his third consecutive pole position of the season in style, snatching Saturday’s honours from teammate Andrea Dovizioso by 0.014 seconds as the Ducati duo overhaul Championship leader Marc Marquez (Respol Honda Team) in Q2.

It was third place Marquez who came out the blocks quickest though, immediately clocking a 1:46.974 – the quickest lap of the weekend – on his first flying run, with Lorenzo 0.110 behind and Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) on the provisional front row.

Moto3 style mind games then appeared as the riders came out to try and better their times. Dovizioso had Marquez lurking in his shadows as the top two in the Championship played cat and mouse, which led to both backing out of flying laps as everyone apart from Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) and Jack Miller (Alma Pramac Racing) scrapped their opening second-run circulations.

This meant it all came down to a one-lap dash, with Maverick Viñales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) leading a freight train of eight riders, as Marquez clung onto the tailpipes of Dovi. The two were setting the timing screens alight but heading into Turn 12, the Honda rider slightly out-braked himself – losing a potential pole lap. Meanwhile, despite having to manoeuvre past Alvaro Bautista (Angel Nieto Team) at the same corner, ‘DesmoDovi’ went fastest by 0.065 to grab provisional pole, but teammate Lorenzo was on the prowl. Heading out slightly later than the rest of the field, the ‘Spartan’ put the hammer down and snatched pole by 0.014 – his fourth of the season and his fourth successive front row in Aragon.

This bumped Dovi to P2 and Marquez to P3 as the trio spearhead the grid together for the first time since the Austrian GP – and we know what happened there. Crutchlow threatened the front row but a crash at T12 on his final flying lap ended his chances of a third front row start of the season – P4 for the Brit and just 0.265 off Lorenzo.

Fifth on the grid went to Andrea Iannone (Team Suzuki Ecstar), his best starting spot since the Catalan GP, with Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) securing his best qualifying position since the Jerez in sixth.

Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci (Alma Pramac Racing) will launch from P7, under half a second back from pole, with Bautista eighth, Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) P9 and Jack Miller (Alma Pramac Racing) P10. Q1 graduate and leading Yamaha rider Maverick Viñales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) had to settle for 11th, with Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) starting 12th after also coming through the first part of qualifying.

It was a disappointing day for third in the Championship Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP). ‘The Doctor’ will start from P18 on Sunday, his worst qualifying result since Assen 2006 as the YZR-M1s continue to struggle.

Lorenzo, Dovizioso and Marquez continue their titanic battle, but who will master MotorLand?

Moto2

Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) left it late at the Gran Premio Movistar de Aragon to secure South Africa’s first intermediate class pole position since 1984 – and his first – but he did just that thanks to a 1:53.149 to displace Friday's fastest Marcel Schrötter (Dynavolt Intact GP). The German missed out on the honour of a maiden pole by just 0.074, but he's well-placed to push for that maiden win. Jorge Navarro (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) took third for his maiden front row in Moto2™.

Despite a crash early in the session, Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) set an identical time to Navarro to line up P4 on the grid, with Championship leader Francesco Bagnaia (Sky Racing Team VR46) just 0.018 behind the Spaniard in fifth, bringing an end to a run of three straight pole positions for the Italian. Compatriot Mattia Pasini (Italtrans Racing Team) lines up sixth after threatening the front row throughout, with Fabio Quartararo (MB Conveyors – Speed Up) seventh. The Frenchman and Binder are the only non-Kalex riders inside the top 12.

Lorenzo Baldassarri (Pons HP 40) earns his best grid slot since the Sachsenring in eighth, with fellow Italians Simone Corsi (Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2) and Luca Marini (Sky Racing Team VR46) rounding out the top ten. It was a difficult afternoon for title contender Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo), meanwhile, after the Portuguese rider could only manage P18 in qualifying. Can he fight back and challenge for a podium on Sunday?

Bagnaia vs Oliveira rolls into MotorLand on Sunday, but it’s the latter’s teammate who will launch from pole. Under two-tenths splitting the top six in qualifying sets us up for another closely fought Moto2™ race, and you can watch all the action live from 12:20 local time (GMT +2).

Moto3

Jorge Martin (Del Conca Gresini Moto3) added to his record as the master of Moto3™ qualifying at the Gran Premio Movistar de Aragon, setting a stunning 1:57.066 to smash the pole position lap record by seven tenths and take his ninth pole of the year. The Championship leader also made a little more history as he broke the lightweight class pole position record of 18 poles, previously held by his Team Manager Fausto Gresini. Martin's compatriot Jaume Masia (Bester Capital Dubai) was his closest challenger, 0.537 back in second but taking his first front row, with Enea Bastianini (Leopard Racing) showing more good speed at MotorLand to take third.

Marinelli Snipers Team rider Tony Arbolino grabbed fourth to seal his best grid slot since taking pole in Argentina, with Dennis Foggia (Sky Racing Team VR46) continuing his good form this weekend to start from the middle of the second row. Championship protagonist Marco Bezzecchi (Redox PruestelGP), meanwhile, led the session before the final flurry of times came in and the Italian slipped down the order slightly, but only to the outside of the second row in sixth.

Niccolo Antonelli (SIC58 Squadra Corse) set the seventh quickest time, but the Italian has a 12-place grid penalty for irresponsible riding in FP3. This means Gabriel Rodrigo (RBA BOE Skull Rider) will start from seventh after heading the timesheets by over three tenths early on, with Aron Canet (Estrella Galicia 0,0) and Fabio Di Giannantonio (Del Conca Gresini Moto3) joining him on the third row in eighth and ninth, respectively.

Next up was Adam Norrodin (Petronas Sprinta Racing), with Marcos Ramirez (Bester Capital Dubai) a thousandth slower and Jakub Kornfeil (Redox PruestelGP) only a further two thousandths in arrears. Nicolo Bulega (Sky Racing Team VR46) and Albert Arenas (Angel Nieto Team) completed the fastest fifteen, also split by just two thousandths of a second.

After another close and competitive qualifying session for the lightweight class, we're set up for a classic on Sunday. Tune in from 11:00 (GMT +2)!