Spanish rookie Pedro Acosta took pole position on Saturday for the Japan MotoGP sprint and Grand Prix as championship leader Jorge Martin crashed out of qualifying.
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GasGas rider Acosta claimed his first ever MotoGP pole with a blistering lap of 1min 43.018sec at Motegi, 0.246sec ahead of Italy's defending world champion Francesco Bagnaia.
Pramac rider Martin finished in 11th place after sliding off his bike late in the session amid intermittent rain.
Martin leads Bagnaia by 21 points in the overall championship standings with five races remaining.
