Marc Marquez stormed to his 75th career pole by just 0.041 seconds over Honda stablemate Cal Crutchlow in MotoGP qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix.
Catalunya poleman Jorge Lorenzo set the early pace in Q2 at a 1:33.600s, though Marquez quickly edged ahead by just 0.007s, while Danilo Petrucci went a further 0.040s.
Q1 graduate Alex Rins started the session on a hard rear tyre, and managed to guide hus Suzuki to provisional pole briefly with a 1:33.499s, though Marquez once again regained control of top spot with just under nine minutes remaining.
Marquez's 1:33.330s was beaten by almost two tenths of a second by Lorenzo on the opening gambit of his final run, with the Ducati rider closely followed by the sister Suzuki of Andrea Iannone.
Iannone continued to use Lorenzo as a reference, and went fastest with a minute to go with a 1:33.120s.
A frantic close to the session saw the order massively reshuffled, with Q1 pacesetter Johann Zarco the first across the line, taking over top spot.
However, the Frenchman found himself back in eighth after the dust had settled, with Marquez following him across the line to take his second pole of the year with a 1:32.791s.
LCR's Cructhlwo leaped up to second at the end, missing pole by just 0.041s to Marquez, while Valentino Rossi – who crashed in FP4 at the Ruskenhoek – was a further 0.018s back in third.
Andrea Dovizioso improved to fourth on his final attempt on his Ducati, missing the front row by just 0.002s, with Rins heading Maverick Vinales to complete the second row.
Aleix Espargaro muscled his Aprilia into seventh ahead of Zarco, while early session-toppers Iannone, Lorenzo and Petrucci were forced back to ninth, 10th and 11th respectively. Alvaro Bautista was 12th.
A blistering final sector on his final lap in Q1 saw Zarco shoot to the top of the times, nudging LCR Honda's Takaaki Nakagami out of a Q2 place by just 0.025s.
Avintia's Tito Rabat will line up 14th having set an identical 1:33.666s to Hafizh Syahrin in, who briefly led a Tech3 one-two in Q1 before being shuffled back to 15th ahead of Pramac's Jack Miller, who was just 0.094s outside of the top two.
Dani Pedrosa's torrid run of qualifying performances continue, with the factory Honda rider only quick enough for 18th in qualifying.
Honda stablemate Franco Morbidelli was absent and will remain sidelined, after the Marc VDS rider broke his left hand in a crash at Ruskenhoek in FP3.
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