Marc Marquez takes pole for French MotoGP

Marc Marquez stormed to pole position for Sunday`s French MotoGP with a qualifying lap over half a second quicker than his grid rivals at Le Mans on Saturday.

Honda`s two-time Spanish world champion posted a flying lap of 1min 32.246sec. Second place went to Andrea Dovizioso with former two-time titleholder Jorge Lorenzo`s Yamaha in third.

British rider Cal Crutchlow starts from fourth ahead of Andrea Iannone, another Briton Bradley Smith, with championship leader Valentino Rossi only seventh.

Marquez, hoping for a dominant performance this weekend to climb up the Rossi-led standings from fourth after an indifferent start to his third season, coped best with a greasy track surface after heavy rain during the earlier practice sessions.

The 22-year-old rider who has recovered from a broken pinky finger suffered in the run up to the last race in Jerez topped the times despite a slide at the tenth turn on his first run.

This was his second pole of the season after Argentina and his 25th in only 41 MotoGP races.

France`s Fabio Quartararo, on a Honda, took pole for the Moto3, with Spain`s Alex Rins heading the pack in Moto2.