Jorge Lorenzo led a Ducati one-two as he took a third successive pole by topping the timesheets for the Grand Prix of Aragon ahead of Andrea Dovizioso.
Dovizioso is the closest challenger to Marc Marquez in what seems a futile title fight, the Repsol Honda rider leading by 67 points, but, though the Italian outqualified the defending champion, he was edged out by Lorenzo at the head of the grid.
Lorenzo claimed pole with a fastest lap of one minute and 46.881 seconds, with Dovizioso 0.014 secs off the pace and Marquez 0.079s back in third.
Marquez had been the quickest man on track but was unable to make improvements following a minor mistake at turn 12.
Dovizioso and Lorenzo profited from the slipstream to leapfrog Marquez, who saw another of his rivals, Valentino Rossi, endure a dreadful Saturday.
Rossi was only eighth fastest in Q1, meaning he will start 18th on the grid, his lowest slot since the 2015 title decider in Valencia when he lost out to Lorenzo.
Cal Crutchlow qualified fourth despite crashing at turn 12, with Andrea Iannone and Dani Pedrosa rounding off the second row of the grid.
Provisional classification:
1. Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati): 1:46.881secs
2. Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati): 1:46.895s
3. Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) 1:46.960s
4. Cal Cruchlow (LCR Honda) 1:47.146s
5. Andrea Iannone (Suzuki Ecstar) 1:47.169s
6. Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) 1:47.224s
7. Danilo Petrucci (Pramac Racing) 1:47.351s
8. Alvaro Bautista (Angel Nieto) 1:47.678s
9. Alex Rins (Suzuki Ecstar) 1:47.737s
10. Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) 1:47.792s
