Behind, Bezzecchi secured the final spot on the front row with a late flyer, ending up just 0.023s off pole position, with di Giannantonio closely following him in fourth.
Pedro Acosta was the sole KTM rider in Q2 as he finished a solid fifth, with home hero Fabio Quartararo coming from Q1 to qualify sixth on the factory KTM.
Honda rider Joan Mir ended up just two tenths off the pace in seventh, with Martin shuffled down to eighth following a series of late improvements.
Ai Ogura was ninth for Trackhouse, while Spanish GP winner Alex Marquez could only manage 10th on the Gresini Ducati after a late crash at Turn 3. Just three tenths separated the top 10 riders in qualifying.
Reigning French GP winner Johann Zarco was a distant 11th for LCR, while Yamaha’s Alex Rins also had a low-key qualifying en route to 12th.
Trackhouse rider Raul Fernandez was the first rider to miss Q2 and will line up 13th on the grid, sharing the fifth row of the grid with Enea Bastianini (Tech3) and Luca Marini (Honda).
Both Bastianini and Marini made late improvements in the final minute, demoting VR46’s Franco Morbidelli to 16th place. MotoGP rookies Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pramac) and Diogo Moreira (LCR) qualified 17th and 18th, beating Jack Miller (Pramac) and a struggling Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini).
Brad Binder endured a tough session on the factory KTM, ending up 21st and only ahead of Maverick Vinales’ stand-in Jonas Folger (Tech3).
Q2 results
Q1 results
To read more Motorsport.com articles visit our website.