Maverick Vinales claimed Qatar Grand Prix pole with a new Losail MotoGP lap record, while Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi was just 14th.
Vinales put himself out of reach straight away in Q2, and cemented pole with a 1:53.546s. Rossi failed to make it out of Q1, and will line-up 14th ahead of Honda's Jorge Lorenzo, who crashed once again.
Rookie Fabio Quartararo set the early pace in Q2 on his Sepang Racing Team Yamaha with a 1:54.972s, before Q1 graduate Takaaki Nakagami usurped him with a 1:54.588s on his LCR Honda.
Vinales guided his Yamaha to a 1:53.844s on his first flying lap, which put him seven tenths clear of Nakagami.
The Yamaha rider managed to improve on this at the end of Q2 with a 1:53.546s, though did come under some threat from Andrea Dovizioso.
However, the Ducati rider missed out by 0.198s and will line up second ahead of Marc Marquez, who followed the sister works Desmosedici of Danilo Petrucci on his last lap to leap up to third.
A late fall at Turn 2 for Pramac's Jack Miller left in fourth ahead of top rookie Quartararo, while Q1 pacesetter Cal Crutchlow put his LCR-run RC213V on the back of row two.
Petrucci was forced to settle for seventh, with Franco Morbidelli [SRT], Nakagami and Suzuki's Alex Rins completing the top 10.
Rins' rookie team-mate Joan Mir was just over a tenth shy of a top 10 spot in 11th, but was just over half a second quicker than 12th-placed Aleix Espargaro on the Aprilia.
Lorenzo set the initial pace in Q1 with a 1:54.563s, but was soon deposed by Honda stablemate Crutchlow by 0.002s.
A second crash of the day, this time at Turn 2, with three minutes remaining spelled the end of Lorenzo's session, with the late-improving Nakagami ensuring he would not see the second part of qualifying.
Lorenzo will begin his Honda debut from 15th on the grid behind former team-mate Rossi, who was a tenth outside of progressing.
Rossi protege Francesco Bagnaia put his Pramac GP18 13th on the grid for his MotoGP debut, while Pol Espargaro was top KTM runner in 16th ahead of Tech3 rookie Miguel Oliveira and Avintia's Tito Rabat.
Rabat was another late faller at Turn 2, as was Espargaro's team-mate Johann Zarco. Last year's Qatar polesitter will start Sunday's race from 21st.
