Doha, Nov 7 (IANS) Aprilia's Marco Bezzecchi produced a stunning late surge to beat championship leader Marc Marquez and claim pole position for the Qatar Grand Prix, setting a new lap record of 1:50.028 at the Lusail International Circuit in Doha on Saturday.

Bezzecchi had the edge over Ducati's Marquez by 0.266, with VR46 Ducati's Fabio Di Giannantonio taking third to make the front row.

Marquez had been the early pace-setter in Q2 with a new Q2 record of 1:50.361 and bettered it further in his final run to 1:50.294. Bezzecchi responded with a stunning 1:50.065 on his first flying lap and further lowered his time in his final effort to take pole.

Raul Fernandez of Trackhouse Aprilia was the only other rider to end up within half a second of Bezzecchi in the first runs, before finishing up fourth on the grid after qualifying sixth. Ducati's Francesco Bagnaia was fifth, with teammate Ai Ogura sixth.

After the red flag came out, Brad Binder crashed for a second time that weekend, and yellow flags came out that prevented some riders from trying to improve their times.

In the first qualifying session (Q1), the top two positions in Q2 went to KTM's Pedro Acosta and Gresini Ducati's Fermin Aldeguer.

Aldeguer moved up near the end to be the first rider to go into the 1:50s, and Acosta was able to move into the second quali session as well. Franco Morbidelli was third in Q1 ahead of Luca Marini, Iker Lecuona, Diogo Moreira, Jake Dixon and Maverick Vinales.

On the second run in Q2, Johann Zarco was the pace setter on the third row, putting him seventh on the grid ahead of Acosta and Aldeguer. Enea Bastianini will start from 10th position, with Jorge Martin (Aprilia) 11th and Binder 12th.

Martin, who is second in the title standings, was said to have been more affected by his injuries and pulled up before ever really getting going in the morning. He then was clearly angry with Acosta, who was involved in an altercation with a couple of laps remaining in Martin's final flying lap.

Both riders are out to do everything to hang on to the much-prized MotoGP world championship. Marquez will claim the title if he is at least 30 points clear of Martin and 8 clear of Bezzecchi when they cross the line in Spain.

--IANS

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