Italian Danilo Petrucci, on a non-works Octo Pramac Ducati, secured his first front-row start in MotoGP with third place on the grid while Italian Andrea Dovizioso, victor in Italy last weekend for Ducati, will start seventh in Sunday's race.
His triumph, in 44min 41.518sec at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya, came a week after a home win at Mugello and left him only seven points behind Yamaha's overall leader Maverick Vinales, who finished 10th.
Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa bagged pole position for tomorrow's Catalan MotoGP at Barcelona, setting a 1'38.870 to beat Jorge Lorenzo by three tenths but it was a nightmare for team-mate Marc Marquez who took his crash total for the day to four.
Vinales' second-placed finish behind Dovizioso in Italy put the young star in the driver's seat for the championship, as he increased his lead over veteran Rossi and Marquez, whose dominance of the sport in recent years hasn't shone through in 2017.
Vinales made it through from qualifying one but could only muster ninth place while Rossi missed qualifying two by 0.040s and will start from 13th on the grid.
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Oracle Team USA leads with six points, followed by Emirates Team New Zealand with five and Land Rover BAR with four. That came in a 4:06 whitewashing of Groupama Team France, which was eliminated with one race to sail.
"It was a odd weekend for everybody", he said after embracing his jubilant team.
The track temperature was estimated at 57 degrees, the hottest it had been all week, causing problems for all riders on a circuit with limited grip. It was a unusual race. Jorge Lorenzo (ESP/Ducati) at 0.405, 3.
Marquez put a move on Pedrosa into Turn 4 the next time around to reclaim second, by which point Dovizioso's lead had doubled.
"A tough race because the tyres were suffering a lot, since the first lap I couldn't push" said Pedrosa.
Marquez, who went to salute his army of fans after the chequered flag, agreed it had been a hard weekend managing the tyres.
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