Rossi earns 1st pole position in 2 years for Italian MotoGP

Scarperia (Italy), June 2: Italy's Valentino Rossi of Yamaha on Saturday earned pole position for the Italian MotoGP Grand Prix, his first time to start a race from pole in two years.

Rossi clocked in at one minute, 46.208 seconds, setting a track record at the Mugello circuit, which saw a three tenths of a second separating the top six competitors in the time sheet, reports Efe.

The seven-time world champion had last started from pole at the 2016 Japanese MotoGP, but crashed out of the race.

Spain's Jorge Lorenzo of Ducati will start from the first row, after clocking in one minute, 46.243 seconds, along with fellow Spaniard Maverick Viñales of Yamaha who was 0.096 seconds off the pace.

From the second row, Italy's Andrea Iannone of Suzuki and Danilo Petrucci of Ducati will be joined by reigning world champion Marc Márquez of Repsol Honda of Spain.