The Spaniard, brother of six-time world champion in the premier class Marc Marquez, absent in Argentina because of an injury, had signed only the 11th time of qualifying practice Friday and therefore had to go through the repechages Saturday morning to win this pole.
At the end of the repechages, Marquez even saw his bike catch fire before changing it.
On the Termas de Rio Hondo track, the 26-year-old Catalan will start ahead of Italian Marco Bezzecchi (Ducati-VR46) on Saturday in the sprint - and on Sunday for the main race. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), leader of the championship, will start in third position.
Starting like Marquez on slick tyres on a dry track, the Italian defending champion admitted at the finish that he had been "a little scared with the tyres because of the moisture stains still present on the track". "I took a lot of risks," he confessed.
Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) will only start from 10th place on the grid, behind the other Frenchman on the grid Johann Zarco (Ducati-Pramac), 6th.
On Friday, the 23-year-old from Nice, world champion in 2021, had complained about the performance of his Yamaha, despite "not so bad sensations". He had only signed the 14th time of the qualifying practice and therefore had to go through the repechages too.
The start of the sprint will be given at 15:00 this afternoon (20:00 Paris time), that of the GP Sunday at 14:00.
As in Portugal last weekend for the first round of the season, the drivers will once again contest the sprint, a race format that takes place on Saturday during each GP weekend and allows them to collect more championship points.
© 2023 AFP