Martin, who celebrated his first MotoGP pole at the Doha GP in April, will be starting at the front of the grid following his blistering lap of one minute, 22.994 seconds in Spielberg.

He will be joined on the front row by Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia in second place and Yamaha’s world championship leader Fabio Quartararo in third.

Quartararo looked set for his 19th career pole position after he posted the fastest lap but the time was cancelled after the Frenchman exceeded track limits.

Bagnaia’s Ducati teammate Jack Miller will start fourth on the grid, joined by Suzuki’s reigning world champion Joan Mir and Pramac Racing’s Johann Zarco on the second row.

Honda’s six-times premier-class winner Marc Marquez suffered a late crash at Turn 3 and will start eighth for Sunday’s 10th round of the season.

Italian great Valentino Rossi, who announced on Thursday he will retire at the end of the 2021 season, took 17th place on his Petronas Yamaha.