Valencia MotoGP: First Rossi pole in four years!

Valentino Rossi has taken his first MotoGP pole position in over four years this afternoon, finishing ahead of Andrea Iannone after Marc Marquez crashed out with less than two minutes left on the clock.

Marquez looked like the man to beat all afternoon, finishing at the front of every session to that point, but suffered his second crash of the day to eventually start tomorrow’s season finale race in fifth.

Rossi, whose incredible last lap came right at the flag to take a maiden pole position form close friend Iannone, is his first since Le Mans in 2010, the race before he badly broke his leg at Mugello.

Dani Pedrosa was the first Honda, Marquez’s teammate finishing third, while fellow Spaniards Jorge Lorenzo and Pol Espargaro bracketed him in fourth and sixth.

Bradley Smith was the best of the Brits in seventh, ahead of the factory Ducati pairing of Cal Crutchlow in eighth and Andrea Dovizioso in ninth. Stefan Brald rounded out the top ten after initially coming through from Q2.

Scott Redding was fourteenth, with Michael Laverty 22nd and Broc Parkes 24th on the PBM Aprilias.