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Brno, Czech Republic - Italian Andrea Dovizioso will start the Czech MotoGP on pole after pipping Valentino Rossi and runaway championship leader Marc Marquez in qualifying on Saturday.
Yamaha star Rossi had clocked the fastest time in the free practice sessions but was knocked off top spot by just two tenths of a second.
1st pole of the season
For Ducati rider Dovizioso this was his first pole of the season and sixth of his career.
"Anything can happen in the race but I'm happy," was the pole sitter's reaction.
His team tweeted: "What can you see on his face? Yes, first pole position of the season for @AndreaDovizioso. What a lap!"
"It was really hot and so it was hard to ride fast enough to do a lap time below 1min 55(sec). But my bike performed great, at the end I was pushing it very hard and it responded," added Dovizioso.
He is placed fourth in a MotoGP standings dominated by Marquez who is closing in on his fifth title in the top division.
Brno marks his 100th MotoGP start.
The 25-year-old Spaniard, who has taken five of the season's nine races so far, has a 46-point advantage over Rossi with Maverick Vinales 56 points adrift.
Dovizioso took the Czech qualifying honours with a lap of 1min 54.689sec with Rossi 0.267 off the pace and only 0.005 quicker than Marquez.
Waiting to pounce on this trio is Jorge Lorenzo who heads the second row. Alongside Dovizioso's Ducati team mate are Cal Crutchlow and Danilo Petrucci.
While Rossi had to settle for second best, his half-brother Luca Marini went one better when grabbing pole on his Kalex for the Moto2 race.
In Moto3 that honour goes to home favourite Jakub Kornfeil, his first ever pole at his 154th attempt since 2009.