Valentino Rossi charged to a first MotoGP pole position in almost a year, and first at Jerez since 2005, on his final lap of Saturday's qualif♉ꦚying session in Spain.

Only Jorge Lorenzo and Marc Marquez had held provisional pole until Rossi - looking to rebound from a rare DNF in Texas - sudd🌊enly got the bett♑er of both his main rivals.

Marquez threatened to snatch pole back on his own last lap, but lost his advantage in the last s🥀ector. That confirmed Ross🦂i's 62nd pole by 0.122s from Lorenzo, with Marquez 0.155s behind to complete a mouth-watering front row.

"We work a lot because last year we struggled too much in qualifying," Rossi said. "This year with Michelin I feel better. I already start on the front row twice this year, but a pole position is different - especially here at Jerez. 🎉For sure tomorrow will be very hard with Lorenzo and Marquez. But we are there. We can fight."

Rossi's last MotoGP🍸 pole was at Assen 2015, where he went on to win the race.

Yamaha team-mate and reigning champion Lorenzo - quickest in three of the four practice sessions prior to qualif🌳ying, Rossi led the othe🎉r - had been planning to make three flying runs in qualifying. However he aborted his second attempt.

"The [second] bike was good, just we got a defective tyre. Chattering on the rear. So we had to cancᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚel the lap. It was a pity," Lorenzo explained. "I didn't feel great on the soft tyre today, but I think for the race we have the pace."

Honda star Marquez confi▨rmed that the pair of fast right-handers leading into the final hairpin had been ☂his undoing.

"The problem is the two fast corne🦩rs. The Yamaha there is really constant and really precise. I tried to push and improve this last sector, but it was not possible," said the world championship leader. "Anyway, happy with qualifying because we are close and tomorrow we will💟 try to stay with the Yamaha riders."

Forming row two of Sunday's grid will be Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso,✨ who has struggled wit🅠h the wheelspin generated at Jerez, plus the Suzukis of Maverick Vinales and Aleix Espargaro.

Marq🌞uez's Repsol Ho🎶nda team-mate Dani Pedrosa claimed seventh, ahead of top satellite rider Pol Espargaro (Tech 3) who was also the final rider within one-second of Rossi.

Fellow Spaniard Hector Barbera completes the third row, with C🐭al Crutchlow and Loris Baz qualifying📖 tenth and twelfth after progressing through Qualifying 1. Dovizioso's team-mate Andrea Iannone will start between them, in eleventh.

Al𝔉varo Bautista narrowly missed out on putting Aprilia into Qualif🐭ying 2, while Bradley Smith's record of escaping from Q1 came to an end with 14th on the grid.

Qualifying 2:
1 Valentino Rossi
2 Jorge Lorenzo
3 Marc Marquez
4 Andrea Dovizioso
5 Maverick Vi?ales
6 Aleix Espargaro
7 Dani Pedrosa
8 Pol Espargaro
9 Hector Barbera
10 Cal Crutchlow
11 Andrea Iannone
12 Loris Baz