Valentino Rossi waves to the crowd after claiming pole position in Assen. Photograph: Bas Czerwinski/EPA
The six-times world champion Valentino Rossi claimed his first pole position of the season in qualifying for Saturday's MotoGP in Assen, Holland.
The Italian's 61st pole position and first since Valencia in 2014 was secured with a record time around the 4.5km track of 1min 32.627sec on his Movistar Yamaha.
"Assen is always special for me, because I have great memories here," said Rossi. "I have won here in the past and a lot of important races in my career took place at this circuit. I love this track, because it's fantastic."
Aleix Espargaró (Team Suzuki Ecstar) was 0.231 behind in second with Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda) third.
Dani Pedrosa will start from the front of the second row, while Briton Cal Crutchlow (CWM LCR Honda) was seventh.
Rossi's team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, who trails the Italian by just one point in the championship standings, will have to start the race from eighth.
