• Marc Marquez scored pole position in qualifying for the Argentina MotoGP 2019.

• It was the 81^st pole of his career.

• The Top 10 qualifiers were separated by less than 1 second.

After a slow start and difficulties during all four practice sessions, Marc Marquez put the hammer down when it truly mattered to claim the pole position for the Argentina MotoGP 2019. It was the 81^stpole of his career.

The reigning world champion could only record the 8^th fastest time by FP3 giving his team lots of concern. Afterwards in FP4, the chain on his RC213V hopped off the rear sprocket. Marquez had to park his bike, ran through puddles and mud in the infield to a marshal on a moped who fetched him back to his pits.

Marquez then hopped on his spare bike to complete the rest of the session and Qualifying. But he almost crashed at the first turn during Q2, as well. The team proceeded to run a two-stop, three-run session.

The Spanish posted a super-quick 1m 38.304s fastest lap, putting himself 0.154s clear of Maverick Vinalez in second. Andrea Dovizioso steered his Ducati to 1m 38.468s to complete the front row of the grid. Dovi’s time was just 0.010s behind Vinalez and 0.164s behind Marquez.

The times recorded in Qualifying were more strung out compared to the amazingly close times during the first two Free Practice Sessions. Instead of having 1 second covering 21 riders, it worked out to 1 second covering ten riders ahead of the race.

Behind Dovi was Valentino Rossi, 0.241s away from pole. Jack Miller completed the Top 5 with a mere 0.003s behind VR46.

Meanwhile, the two riders of Petronas Sepang Racing Team surprised everyone when their riders Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Quartararo qualified sixth and seventh, respectively.

Cal Crutchlow, Takaaki Nakagami and Danilo Petrucci completed the Top 10.