Marco Bezzecchi set a new all-time lap record of the Valencia circuit as he stormed to his fourth MotoGP pole position of the season.
A highly competitive qualifying saw Bezzecchi forced to break a lap record set in the session by Alex Marquez, with the Italian edging out the Spaniard for pole.
Francesco Bagnaia looked to be the favourite to make it through to Q2, but suffered a technical issue which saw him qualify down in 16th.
Raul Fernandez and Johann Zarco made it into the second round of qualifying, with both riders aiming to get into the conversation for pole position.
Bezzecchi lost the front and made a trip into the gravel trap at Turn 2, but was able to stay on his Aprilia machine.
In the final frenzy of lap times, Bezzecchi headed to the top of the timesheets despite his off, with the rest of the top five within a tenth of each other.
However, the tyres began to degrade, which meant that the riders were unable to improve as they hoped, with Bezzecchi’s time looking untouchable.
It proved to be the case as Bezzecchi earned pole position by setting a new circuit record of 1:28.809s.
Marquez missed out on pole by 0.026s as the 2025 runner-up was forced to settle for second on the grid.
Fabio Di Giannantonio proved to have some pace in reserve as he earned a front row start by qualifying in third.
Raul Fernandez took fourth at the end of qualifying, while Pedro Acosta was disappointed to line up on the second row in fifth, just 0.096s off Bezzecchi’s pole time.
Fabio Quartararo was unable to make the difference out of the final corner and qualified in sixth, as Franco Morbidelli took seventh at the flag.
Jack Miller completed qualifying in eighth, narrowly ahead of Fermin Aldeguer in ninth, while Joan Mir headed the fourth row by completing the top 10.
Johann Zarco also qualified on the fourth row in 11th, with Ai Ogura joining the Honda pair in 12th.
Luca Marini narrowly missed out on Q2 and headed the fifth row of the grid in 13th, with Honda wildcard Aleix Espargaro setting an almost-identical lap time in 14th.
Brad Binder’s best lap time was only good enough for 15th, while a frustrated Bagnaia took 16th after appearing to run out of fuel.
2024 World Champion Jorge Martin qualified 17th on his return to MotoGP action, as Miguel Oliveira completed the sixth row in 18th position.
Alex Rins took 19th, as Enea Bastianini led the Tech3 KTM charge in 20th ahead of returning team-mate Maverick Vinales in 21st.
Nicolo Bulega continued his stand-in duties for Ducati and took 22nd on his first trip to the Valencia circuit in four years.
Yamaha wildcard Augusto Fernandez crashed at Turn 6 on his first qualifying run and finished 23rd with the V4 engine, while Somkiat Chantra completed the standings in 24th.
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