Honda’s MotoGP championship leader Marc Marquez took pole position at the German Grand Prix for the seventh year in a row across all classes yesterday while fellow Spaniard and reigning champion Jorge Lorenzo crashed twice.

Marquez was joined on the front row of the grid at the Sachsenring by compatriot Hector Barbera of the independent Avintia Ducati team and Yamaha’s Italian great Valentino Rossi in third.

Lorenzo, Rossi’s team-mate, qualified 11th and starts on the fourth row – his lowest grid position since 2013 when he started 12th in the Dutch Grand Prix after breaking his collarbone.

“Three mistakes on my part are not normal for me, but this weekend it happened,” said Lorenzo, who also fell in Friday practice.

Marquez, who leads Lorenzo by 24 points after eight of 18 rounds, has won the last three MotoGP races in Germany and the three before that in the Moto2 and 125cc (Moto3) category. The pole was the 62nd of his career.

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