Marc Marquez took his maiden 125cc pole position in an exciting qualifying session ahead of tomorrow's French Grand Prix.

On a drying Le Mans track, with lap times tumbling down throughout the 40-minute running, the Red Bull KTM rider set the quickest time of 1m47.080s with the chequered flag already shown.

The 16-year-old Spaniard beat Scott Redding (Blusens Aprilia) by less than a tenth, with Nicolas Terol (Jack & Jones Aprilia) and Dominique Aegerter (Ajo Derbi) completing the front row.

Derbi's Joan Olive will head the second row, followed by Aspar Aprilia teammates Bradley Smith and Julian Simon, and Stefan Bradl on the Kiefer Aprilia.

The track conditions led to a dozen crashes, including the Aprilias of series leader Andrea Iannone (23rd on the grid), Smith, Simone Corsi (19th), Takaaki Nakagami (31st), the Derbis of Pol Espargaro (15th) and Sandro Cortese (24th).

Full results to follow