Marquez on pole at Le Mans

Marquez's pole, in a time of one minute 32.246 seconds on a drying track after earlier rain, was the 25th of the Spaniard's MotoGP career.

(Reuters)

Italian Andrea Dovizioso qualified second for Ducati, in 1:32.749, with Yamaha's Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo completing the front row for Sunday's race at the Bugatti circuit.

Lorenzo's championship-leading team mate Valentino Rossi will start seventh, just ahead of Honda's Spanish rider Dani Pedrosa who is returning from arm surgery after missing the last three races.

Rossi leads Dovizioso by 15 points after four rounds of the championship.

(Writing by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Justin Palmer)