Maverick Vinales claimed the last MotoGP pole of the 2018 season in a dramatic Valencia qualifying which saw Marc Marquez crash and Valentino Rossi go just 16th.
Vinales only just graduated from Q1, but went on to set the pace late in the pole shootout to secure his first pole of the season.
Setting the pace in FP4, Marc Marquez looked set to establish the early benchmark when he crashed going through Turn 4, appearing to dislocate his left shoulder in the process.
The Honda rider made it back to his box and returned to track with six minutes remaining, while Ducati stablemates Jack Miller, Andrea Dovizioso and Danilo Petrucci all took turns setting the pace, with the latter emerging on top with a 1:31.531s.
Miller crashed for the second time today, this time at Turn 4, while Vinales shot to the top of the pile with a 1:31.930s.
Vianles proceeded to go even quicker with a 1:31.312s, though came under threat in the dying stages from Suzuki's Alex Rins and Dovizioso.
However, Rins missed out by just 0.068s, with Dovizioso a further 0.012s adrift to complete the front row and secure Vinales the factory Yamaha team's second pole of the year.
Pramac's Petrucci heads row two ahead of Marquez, who was just 0.130s from pole despite suffering a suspected-shoulder dislocation in his early fall.
Pol Espargaro gave KTM its best Saturday result of the year in sixth ahead of Q1 pacesetter Andrea Iannone [Suzuki], his Aprilia-mounted brother Aleix, Dani Pedrosa on the sister works Honda and the crashing Miller.
Johann Zarco also took a late tumble, leaving the Tech3 rider 11th for his and the team's final Yamaha start, while Ducati test rider Michele Pirro completed the top 12.
The injured Jorge Lorenzo put on a valiant effort in Q1 to only just miss the Q2 places by 0.042s on his works Ducati, with the Spaniard lining up ahead of LCR's Takaaki Nakagami for his farewell outing for the Bologna marque.
Former teammate Valentino Rossi proved the shock of qualifying, as he could only muster 16th on his factory Yamaha while stablemate Vinales progressed and went on to take pole, marking the third time this year the Italian has fallen out of contention in Q1.
Rossi's protege Franco Morbidelli will line up just a few hundredths ahead in 15th for Marc VDS' final premier class race, while Aprilia's Scott Redding brings up the rear of the field in 24th for his last grand prix.






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