Dominant Lorenzo takes sensational pole

Lorenzo accelerates hard out of a corner on way to pole

Movistar Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo produced an incredible display of riding to take his 33rd MotoGP pole position in perfect conditions at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli to set a 1'32.146. The Spaniard obliterated Marquez's 2013 Pole Record (1'32.915) by almost eight-tenths of a second as he set the fastest ever lap by a MotoGP bike around the 4.2km track on the Adriatic coast.

Lorenzo utilized two stops to allow him to put in three runs on fresh slicks. He set his fastest time on his second run, and looked on for a 1'31 on his third before he was hampered by his teammate Rossi riding slowly on the racing line. Lorenzo – who has never finished off the podium at Misano – showed complete domination on Saturday by topping FP3 & FP4 before going on to take his 59th career pole.

Repsol Honda's Marquez had been the main threat to Lorenzo over the course of the weekend, topping FP1 and finishing in second behind his compatriot in every other session. Marquez also made two stops and set his best time on his third run but still found himself 0.106s behind Lorenzo and will start from the middle of the front row.

Movistar Yamaha's Rossi only went for a one-stop strategy but it paid off for the nine-time World Champion as he managed to improve his time from practice by over four-tenths to claim only his third front row start of the season. Rossi was just 0.212s behind Lorenzo as he looks to defend his 12-point lead in the standings over his teammate and take back-to-back wins at his home grand prix. He had earlier tried the aerodynamic ‘winglets' in FP4 that Lorenzo debuted on Friday, but neither Yamaha rider used them during qualifying.

Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa (+0.288s) will start from the front of the second row as the Spaniard aims to make it three podiums in a row at Misano in Sunday's race. He finished ahead of the Ducati Test Team rider of Michele Pirro (+0.590s) who will start as the leading Ducati in fifth despite a crash earlier in FP4.

Monster Yamaha Tech 3's Bradley Smith (+0.655s) will start as the leading Satellite rider in sixth as he looks to make it 19 points scoring finishes in a row. Ducati Team's Andrea Iannone will start from the front of the third row ahead of his teammate Andrea Dovizioso in eighth.

Octo Pramac Racing's Danilo Petrucci made the most of his upgrade to the Desmosedici GP14.2 this weekend to complete the third row. Aleix Espargaro (Team Suzuki Ecstar) and Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) had earlier made it through from Q1 and will start in 10th and 11th respectively. Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) will have to start from 12th after he crashed at turn 9 ending his session after just two laps.

EG 0,0 Marc VDS's Scott Redding well start from 13th after failing to make it through from Q1 by just 0.194s, while Loris Baz (Forward Racing) is the leading open class rider in 16th. Australian Jack Miller (LCR Honda) will start from the front of the sixth row in 16th, while Aspar MotoGP Team riders Eugene Laverty and Nicky Hayden are in 21st and 23rd respectively.

Results

Pos Rider Num Nation Team Constructor Time
1 LORENZO Jorge 99 SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 1'32.146
2 MARQUEZ Marc 93 SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 1'32.252
3 ROSSI Valentino 46 ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 1'32.358
4 PEDROSA Dani 26 SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 1'32.434
5 PIRRO Michele 51 ITA Ducati Team Ducati 1'32.736
6 SMITH Bradley 38 GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1'32.801
7 IANNONE Andrea 29 ITA Ducati Team Ducati 1'32.821
8 DOVIZIOSO Andrea 4 ITA Ducati Team Ducati 1'32.934
9 PETRUCCI Danilo 9 ITA Pramac Racing Ducati 1'33.169
10 ESPARGARO Aleix 41 SPA Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 1'33.187
11 CRUTCHLOW Cal 35 GBR LCR Honda Honda 1'33.220
12 ESPARGARO Pol 44 SPA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1'33.222
13 REDDING Scott 45 GBR Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 1'33.340
14 VINALES Maverick 25 SPA Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 1'33.439
15 HERNANDEZ Yonny 68 COL Pramac Racing Ducati 1'33.710
16 BAZ Loris 76 FRA Athina Forward Racing Forward Yamaha 1'34.093
17 MILLER Jack 43 AUS LCR Honda Honda 1'34.137
18 BARBERA Hector 8 SPA Avintia Racing Ducati 1'34.296
19 BRADL Stefan 6 GER Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 1'34.333
20 BAUTISTA Alvaro 19 SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 1'34.368
21 LAVERTY Eugene 50 IRE Aspar MotoGP Team Honda 1'34.468
22 DI MEGLIO Mike 63 FRA Avintia Racing Ducati 1'34.722
23 HAYDEN Nicky 69 USA Aspar MotoGP Team Honda 1'34.732
24 CORTI Claudio 71 ITA Athina Forward Racing Forward Yamaha 1'35.385
25 ABRAHAM Karel 17 CZE AB Motoracing Honda 1'35.406
26 DE ANGELIS Alex 15 RSM Athina Forward Racing Forward Yamaha 1'35.684