Quartararo, who leads the championship after winning two of the opening three races this season, set the early pace in the final qualifying session before securing top spot with a time of one minute, 36.755 seconds.

The Frenchman will be joined on the front row by Petronas Yamaha SRT’s Franco Morbidelli, who came through Qualifying 1 to finish second, and Ducati’s Jack Miller in third place.

Marquez, returning to the place where he broke his arm last July, suffered a heavy crash at turn 7 but was able to walk away from the accident.

The Repsol Honda rider went to the circuit’s medical centre for checks, which revealed he avoided major injuries.

As a precaution, Marquez also went to hospital in Jerez for an MRI scan, before being declared fit to compete for the rest of the weekend.

Marquez failed to rediscover his rhythm in Q1, however, and was forced to settle for a spot on the fifth row of the grid for Sunday’s race.