Marc Marquez tops qualifying in Le Mans

Marc Marquez topped qualifying for the third time this season as he clinched pole for round five of the MotoGP season in France.

The reigning world champion, who is recovering from a broken finger, has not had things all his own way at the beginning of the 2015 campaign, having won the first six races from pole last year.

Nevertheless, the Repsol Honda rider is fourth in the current riders' standings and set the pace on Saturday with a quickest lap of one minute and 32.246 seconds.

The Spaniard will also have been boosted championship leader Valentino Rossi's disappointing session, with the Movistar Yamaha man qualifying in seventh.

Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso - Rossi's closest challenger - was more than half a second back as he claimed second spot on the grid, ahead of Movistar Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo.

LCR Honda's Cal Crutchlow heads up the second row, joined by Ducati's Andrea Iannone and Bradley Smith of Monster Yamaha.

Qualifying classification:

1. Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) 1:32.246

2. Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) 1:32.749

3. Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha) 1:32.846

4. Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) 1:32.897

5. Andrea Iannone (Ducati) 1:33.001

6. Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha) 1:33.299

7. Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha) 1:33.352

8. Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) 1:33.419

9. Danilo Petrucci (Pramac Racing) 1:33.556

10. Aleix Espargaro (Suzuki Ecstar) 1:33.665