Reigning world champion Francesco Bagnaia grabbed pole from the returning Marc Marquez for this weekend's French MotoGP in qualifying at Le Mans on Saturday.
Six-time world champion Marquez was heading for the front of the grid on his return from injury sustained in a first lap crash in the season-opener in Portugal.
But the 30-year-old Spaniard was bettered by just 0.058sec by Bagnaia's final flying lap to leave the Ducati rider heading the grid for both Saturday's sprint and Sunday's main event.
"It wasn't easy, everything went well, I'm very happy, it was a great lap time," said Bagnaia, seeking his third sprint win of the campaign.
Joining this pair on the front row of the grid for the fifth round of the season is Luca Marini for Valentino Rossi's Ducati-VR46 team.
Marini did well after having to come through the first qualifying repechage session where only the first two riders go through to the shoot out for the first four rows of the grid.
Missing out though was 2021 world champion Fabio Quartararo.
The Frenchman failed to make his struggling Yamaha fire and he will start both the sprint and the race back on the fifth row in front of his home fans.
Aleix Espargaro had a lucky escape when walking away unharmed from a near 300kph crash, his Aprilia bike bouncing to a rest in the gravel safety pit.
Bagnaia leads the MotoGP standings by 22 points over fellow Ducati rider Marco Bezzecchi after two sprint and two race wins.
But the Italian has a poor record in France, with his best showing a fourth from four appearances. Last year he crashed after setting off from pole.
FRENCH MOTOGP GRID
1st row
1. Francesco Bagnaia (ITA/Ducati)
2. Marc Marquez (ESP/Honda)
3. Luca Marini (ITA/Ducati-VR46)
2nd row
4. Jack Miller (AUS/KTM)
5. Jorge Martin (ESP/Ducati-Pramac)
6. Maverick Vinales (ESP/Aprilia)
3rd row
7. Marco Bezzecchi (ITA/Ducati-VR46)
8. Alex Marquez (ESP/Ducati-Gresini)
9. Johann Zarco (FRA/Ducati-Pramac)
4th row
10. Brad Binder (RSA/KTM)
11. Aleix Espargaro (ESP/Aprilia)
12. Augusto Fernandez (ESP/GasGas Tech 3)
5th row
13. Fabio Quartararo (FRA/Yamaha)
14. Takaaki Nakagami (JPN/LCR Honda)
15. Fabio di Giannantonio (ITA/Gresini Racing)