Marc Marquez secured his third pole of 2019 in a wet MotoGP French Grand Prix qualifying despite a crash, while Suzuki's Alex Rins was left in 19th having failed to lift himself out of Q1.
The Honda rider set his pole time of 1:40.952s early on when the track was at its fastest, before rain returned in the second half of the session that made it impossible for any improvements.
The worsening track conditions quickly started to catch several riders out, with Marquez falling foul of the downhill Turn 6 shortly after setting his fastest lap.
The Honda rider quickly remounted and continued without a trip to the pits, but was unable to improve on his pole time. His 55th career premier class pole came under no threat in the closing moments, however.
Danilo Petrucci will join the Honda man on the front row, as does fellow Ducati pilot Jack Miller (Pramac), who also suffered a crash during the 15-minute Q2 session, but had set an earlier time that was enough to remain third at the chequered flag.
Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) will start from fourth on the grid just ahead of Valentino Rossi, who set the fastest time in Q1 after a slick tyre gamble in the iffy conditions paid off
Franco Morbidelli joined countryman Rossi in progressing from Q1, and went onto to qualify sixth on his Petronas SRT Yamaha ahead of LCR Honda's Takaaki Nakagami, who also fell in the worsening conditions in Q2.
Factory HRC rider Jorge Lorenzo guided his RC213V to eighth, while Aleix Espargaro took ninth on his Aprilia RS-GP to eclipse FP1 pace-setter Fabio Quartararo on the sister Petronas SRT machine.
Pol Espargaro was another rider to crash in the tricky conditions, the KTM man failing to set a time in Q2 as a result. He will start down in 12th position, just behind FP3 pacesetter Maverick Vinales on the sister works Yamaha.
Pramac's Francesco Bagnaia was on course to post a lap good enough for the top two in Q1, before aborting and returning to pitlane to join the rest in switching to slicks.
This backfired on him, however, and he will start from 13th instead after his lap of 1:39.982s, with last year's poleman Johann Zarco 14th for his home race aboard the KTM.
Cal Crutchlow on the LCR Honda will launch from a season-worse 15th ahead of Tech3's Miguel Oliveira, who crashed late in Q1.
Rins joined the rest in following Rossi in moving to slicks, but returned to wet tyres for the final few moments. He was unable to find time, though, and was consigned to a lowly 19th.
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