Vinales takes pole in record time for San Marino MotoGP

Maverick Vinales produced a new lap record at the Marco Simoncelli circuit on Saturday to claim pole position for the San Marino MotoGP as Yamaha locked out the top four places on the grid.

The Spaniard, who had to make a dramatic emergency leap from his bike when it lost its brakes at 210 km/h in the Styrian GP last month, pulled out a sizzling final lap of 1min 31.411sec, beating the previous track record of 1min 31.629 sec.

"We had a good strategy, saving our tyres for Q2," said Vinales, who claimed the 11th pole of his career.

"I was absolutely at the limit and I made the most of the bike," said Vinales. "I feel amazing. It felt fantastic on the bike, we will try and go at the maximum tomorrow."

Vinales, on a factory Yamaha, was a remarkable three-tenths of a second faster than the Italian Franco Morbidelli of the Yamaha satellite team SRT. Championship leader Fabio Quartararo, on the other SRT, completed the front row.

"I imagined I was going to feel better but the confidence is not so great," said Frenchman Quartararo, who holds a three-point lead over Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso in the championship standings.

"Most important is we are on the front row," said Quartararo, who finished second last year on this same track, also starting from the front row.

Italian Dovizioso, couldn't do better than ninth on his Ducati and will start from the third row on Sunday.

"The Ducatis aren't at their best in Misano, but they are more consistent than us," said Quartararo, adding this made it important to collect the maximum of points in Misano.

Veteran Valentino Rossi, who topped the third practice session in the morning, closed out a fine day by claiming the fourth spot on the other factory Yamaha.

The KTMs, who are having a breakout season, struggled.

Spaniard Pol Espargaro was 11th on a KTM factory machine after crashing at the beginning of the qualifying session.

Portuguese rider Miguel Oliveira, the winner last time at the Styrian Grand Prix, was 12th for KTM satellite team Tech3.

Six-time world champion, Spaniard Marc Marquez is still absent after breaking his right arm in the first race of the season and his Honda team were relegated to the back of the grid with younger brother Alex Marquez only 21st fastest and German Stefan Bradl 19th.

British rider Cal Crutchlow (Honda-LCR) had to withdraw from qualifying and the race on Sunday still struggling following an operation on his arm.

This is the first of two races at Misano with the Emilia-Romagna grand prix on the same circuit in a week's time.