Marquez, who sealed his seventh MotoGP world championship crown at Motegi last week, was forced to come through the first qualifying session for the first time this season but could only settle for a place on the third row.

He was 0.941 seconds behind Bezzecchi, who took pole in a blistering time of 1 minute 28.832 seconds in humid conditions at the Mandalika track on the resort island of Lombok.

That time smashed former world champion Jorge Martin’s record with the first-ever lap at Mandalika to break into the one minute and 28 second territory.

“It is true that I am quite quick. I am happy with the qualifying for sure,” said Aprilia’s 26-year-old Italian rider.

“Now we still have to do the main part of the weekend, which are the races. So let’s keep ourselves focused and try to do our best.”

Fermin Aldeguer was second, 0.398 seconds behind, with Aprilia’s Raul Fernandez 0.452 seconds off in third.

“We try to improve the Fridays, try to improve the qualifying, and here we took a big step. We are super happy,” said Aldeguer.

Fernandez said riders could only have hoped to qualify second on Saturday because Bezzecchi was “making a step in front” of the pack.

Alex Marquez, second in the overall standings, will start from seventh despite a crash in the qualifying session.

Two-time world champion Francesco Bagnaia could only qualify far back in 16th.

Despite his low qualifying spot, Marc Marquez will be looking to extend his 541 championship points, which are already a single-season record for a MotoGP rider.

Alex Rins was fourth, followed by Pedro Acosta and Luca Marini.