Home rider Stefan Bradl briefly topped the times after the first bout of efforts but was swiftly bumped down to fourth as the leaders upped the ante.

Marquez’s second flier yielded a 1m21.849s to put him provisional pole, but he was pushed down by the factory Yamaha of Rossi and then Cal Crutchlow’s satellite Tech 3 bike.

When they emerged from the pits for their final runs, though, Marquez was not to be denied.

On his eighth effort, he improved to a 1m21.311s – just two-tenths shy of Casey Stoner’s outright lap record, set on qualifying tyres in 2008, and out of the reach of the chasing Yamahas.

Rossi briefly jumped Crutchlow as he improved to a 1m21.493s but the Briton edged out the Assen winner by less than five-hundredths of a second as he posted a 1m21.434s.

Bradl had an off at Turn 3 at mid-distance but was quickly back on his LCR Honda and though he was able to improve his time, he could not match the pace of the lead trio and ended up fourth.

That put him only fractionally ahead of the Aspar Aprilia of Aleix Espargaro, the CRT rider excelling once again to earn a career-best starting position of fifth.

Espargaro’s time of 1m21.887s was well clear of Nicky Hayden’s factory Ducati in sixth, while Danilo Petrucci and Claudio Corti made it three CRT bikes in Q2, that duo completing the top 10.

Dani Pedrosa will line up 12th, should he be declared fit to race.

The championship leader was revealed to have a very small crack in his collarbone after his hefty practice shunt, though it was a combination of concussion and shoulder injury which forced him to miss the session.

Pramac Ducati’s Andrea Iannone also missed Q1 following a dislocated right shoulder sustained in a crash in fourth practice, and was classified 23rd.

Q2:
1. Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 1m 21.311s
2. Cal Crutchlow GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 1m 21.434s
3. Valentino Rossi ITA Yamaha Factory Racing (YZR-M1) 1m 21.493s
4. Stefan Bradl GER LCR Honda MotoGP (RC213V) 1m 21.862s
5. Aleix Espargaro ESP Power Electronics Aspar (ART CRT) 1m 21.887s
6. Nicky Hayden USA Ducati Team (GP13) 1m 22.157s
7. Bradley Smith GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 1m 22.297s
8. Alvaro Bautista ESP Go&Fun Honda Gresini (RC213V) 1m 22.484s
9. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team (GP13) 1m 22.561s
10. Claudio Corti ITA NGM Forward Racing (FTR-Kawasaki CRT)* 1m 23.059s
11. Danilo Petrucci ITA Came IodaRacing Project (Suter-BMW CRT)* 1m 23.361s
12. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) No Time

Q1:
13. Randy De Puniet FRA Power Electronics Aspar (ART CRT) 1m 23.152s
14. Hector Barbera ESP Avintia Blusens (FTR-Kawasaki CRT)* 1m 23.333s
15. Michele Pirro ITA Ignite Pramac Racing (GP13) 1m 23.349s
16. Michael Laverty GBR Paul Bird Motorsport (PBM-ART CRT)* 1m 23.549s
17. Yonny Hernandez COL Paul Bird Motorsport (ART CRT) 1m 23.565s
18. Colin Edwards USA NGM Forward Racing (FTR-Kawasaki CRT)* 1m 23.631s
19. Karel Abraham CZE Cardion AB Motoracing (ART CRT) 1m 23.752s
20. Hiroshi Aoyama JPN Avintia Blusens (FTR-Kawasaki CRT)* 1m 23.820s
21. Lukas Pesek CZE Came IodaRacing Project (Suter-BMW CRT)* 1m 24.395s
22. Bryan Staring AUS Go&Fun Honda Gresini (FTR-Honda CRT) 1m 27.273s
23. Andrea Iannone ITA Energy T.I. Pramac Racing (GP13) No Time
* Standard ECU.