Marquez pips Crutchlow for Dutch TT pole position

MotoGP - TT Assen Grand Prix -TT Assen Circuit, Assen, Netherlands - June 30, 2018 - Repsol Honda Team's Marc Marquez in action during the motogp qualifying. REUTERS/Yves Herman

(Reuters) - Honda's MotoGP champion Marc Marquez will start Sunday's Dutch TT on pole position with Britain's Cal Crutchlow alongside on the front row after a knife-edge qualifying session.

The Spaniard, who leads Italian Valentino Rossi in the standings by 27 points after seven races, lapped the Assen circuit with a fastest time of one minute 32.791 seconds for his second pole of the season.

Crutchlow, on a non-works LCR Honda, was 0.041 slower with Rossi, a 10 times winner at Assen who crashed in final practice, completing the front row for Yamaha in a hectic close to the session.

MotoGP - TT Assen Grand Prix -TT Assen Circuit, Assen, Netherlands - June 30, 2018 - LCR Honda Castrol rider Cal Crutchlow of Britain during MotoGP qualifying. REUTERS/Yves Herman

Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo, winner of the previous two races for Ducati, qualified only 10th but the gap between him and Marquez was still only 0.376 of a second.

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in Spielberg, Austria. editing by Ken Ferris)