Jorge Martin snatched his tenth Moto3 pole away from championship leader Aron Canet in a drying qualifying at the Circuit of the Americas.
The session got underway with the 3.3-mile American circuit damp from an earlier rain shower, though times tumbled as the conditions quickly improved.
Former CoTA poleman Philipp Oettl was the early pacesetter on a 2:37.489s, though was soon deposed by Argentina race winner Marco Bezzecchi, who guided his Prustel GP KTM to a 2:32.739s.
Bezzecchi responded to challenges to his top spot by Canet and Martin with a 2:28.256s with 21 minutes on the clock, though the latter edged ahead moments later with a 2:27.960s.
With the track continuing to dry, Oettl was the first to switch to slicks halfway through the session, and found himself over six seconds clear of the still slick-shod field with a 2:21.760s.
The German improved to a 2:20.436s with 10 minutes remaining, though found himself under attack as the rest started to get to grips with their slicks.
Bezzecchi was the first to usurp Oettl, but his 2:20.269s was scrubbed as he exceeded track limits. Canet's 2:19.675s was legal, however, and put him six tenths clear of the rest.
A final flurry of laps saw Martin take pole away from Canet by half a second with a 2:18.629s, while CIP KTM's John McPhee leaped up to third at the death.
Behind the Scotsman came Tatsuki Suzuki, the SIC58 rider edging ahead of Martin's teammate Fabio Di Giannantonio, with Leopard's Enea Bastianini – who sat atop the timesheets briefly in the latter stages – completing the second row.
Sky VR46 rookie Dennis Foggia took his best qualifying result of the year in seventh ahead of Ayumu Sasaki, while early pacesetter Bezzecchi found himself shuffled back to ninth.
Jaume Masia also claimed his best grid slot of his rookie campaign in 10th, narrowly nudging Oettl out of the top 10.
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