MOTEGI: Aprilia's Jorge Martin set a lap record to grab pole position at the Japanese Grand Prix on Saturday ahead of title rival and defending MotoGP champion Marc Marquez.
Ducati's Marquez held provisional pole with his time of 1 minute 42.481 seconds, but a late scorching 1 min 42.371 sec from Martin catapulted the championship leader to the top of the timesheets.
"It's a situation that I'm getting used to, we struggle a bit on Friday, then we do a great job trying to analyse well, and then we make a big step on Saturday," Martin said.
"That was the target. I didn't expect to fight for the pole position. I was aiming maybe for the first row, but I was able to do a great lap."
