Twice MotoGP champion Francesco Bagnaia clinched his second pole position of the season when the Ducati rider stormed to a lap record in qualifying at the Japanese Grand Prix on Saturday.
The 28-year-old Italian crossed the line with the fastest time of one minute and 42.911 seconds in mostly sunny conditions in Motegi, with 2020 MotoGP champion Joan Mir qualifying second and championship leader Marc Marquez completing the front row.
"Happy," said Bagnaia, whose first pole of the season came at the Czech Republic Grand Prix in July.
"It's incredible, the feeling I'm having. I feel that I can push. I feel I can do what I want with my bike, it's something that I was missing from last year. I'm super happy with it."
Marquez leads the riders' championship table with 512 points, with his younger brother Alex, who qualified eighth, second on 330. Marquez can move closer to a seventh MotoGP title in the sprint later on Saturday.
"Nobody said it was going to be easy," Marquez said. "It's feeling better and better. We had a small crash in FP3 which affected the confidence a bit, but in quali I felt comfortable on the bike."
Reigning MotoGP champion Jorge Martin will start 17th on the grid after missing out on Q2.