Even a heavy crash in morning practice failed to slow the Moto2 champion, who had looked unstoppable at the Texas track ever since first testing there in March.
Marquez reeled off three ever-faster laps at the start of final qualifying, eventually getting down to a 2m03.021s.
At that stage he was nearly a second clear of the pack.
It took a huge late effort from his team-mate Dani Pedrosa to get the gap down to 0.254 seconds, the elder works Honda rider finding 0.7s on his final dash.
Jorge Lorenzo had to settle for third on the fastest Yamaha. He was a full 1.3s quicker than team-mate Valentino Rossi, who could only manage eighth.
Cal Crutchlow was the best of those who had not tested at Austin as he put the Tech 3 Yamaha fourth, beating LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl – the only non-factory rider with experience of the venue.
Andrea Dovizioso was Ducati’s lead runner again, claming the final second row spot.
Aleix Espargaro again produced an extraordinary performance on Aspar’s CRT bike.
He made it through the first part of qualifying at prototype rider Andrea Iannone’s expense, then took ninth on the final grid – ahead of Nicky Hayden, Bradley Smith and Ben Spies.
Until the last moments of Q1 it looked like it would be Smith, not Iannone, who missed the cut, but a big improvement from the young Briton got him through.
Karel Abraham will miss Sunday’s race having clashed with Bryan Staring early in Q1. The Czech rider sustained a fractured collarbone.
Pos Rider Team/Bike Time Gap
1. Marc Marquez Honda 2m03.021s
2. Dani Pedrosa Honda 2m03.275s + 0.254s
3. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 2m04.100s + 1.079s
4. Cal Crutchlow Tech 3 Yamaha 2m04.267s + 1.246s
5. Stefan Bradl LCR Honda 2m04.445s + 1.424s
6. Andrea Dovizioso Ducati 2m04.873s + 1.852s
7. Alvaro Bautista Gresini Honda 2m04.942s + 1.921s
8. Valentino Rossi Yamaha 2m05.380s + 2.359s
9. Aleix Espargaro Aspar Aprilia 2m05.389s + 2.368s
10. Nicky Hayden Ducati 2m05.568s + 2.547s
11. Bradley Smith Tech 3 Yamaha 2m06.740s + 3.719s
12. Ben Spies Pramac Ducati 2m07.044s + 4.023s
13. Andrea Iannone Pramac Ducati 2m06.872s Q1
14. Randy de Puniet Aspar Aprilia 2m07.129s Q1
15. Hector Barbera Avintia FTR-Kawasaki 2m07.717s Q1
16. Yonny Hernandez PBM Aprilia 2m07.738s Q1
17. Michael Laverty PBM-Aprilia 2m08.259s Q1
18. Colin Edwards Forward FTR-Kawasaki 2m08.475s Q1
19. Claudio Corti Forward FTR-Kawasaki 2m08.792s Q1
20. Danilo Petrucci Ioda-Suter-BMW 2m08.825s Q1
21. Hiroshi Aoyama Avintia FTR-Kawasaki 2m09.062s Q1
22. Bryan Staring Gresini FTR-Honda 2m10.098s Q1
23. Lukas Pesek Ioda-Suter-BMW 2m10.507s Q1
24. Blake Young Attack APR-Kawasaki 2m10.606s Q1
25. Karel Abraham Cardion Aprilia 2m23.317s Q1
Jean Pierre Jabouille Jimmy Jackson Joe James John James Jean Pierre Jarier
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