Le Mans MotoGP: Pedrosa steals pole

Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa will start tomorrow’s MotoGP race at Le Mans from pole position.

Pedrosa stole pole position with only a few minutes remaining of the session. The session started in wet conditions, though it wasn’t raining, and the track slowly dried towards the end of the session. Team-mate Casey Stoner will start from second on the grid.

Tech 3 Yamaha rider Andrea Dovizioso completes the front row in third – his best qualifying position so far in 2012. Dovizioso beat team-mate Cal Crutchlow, who starts fifth.

Aprilia rider Randy de Puniet finished top CRT at his home race in 12th, beating prototype rider Stefan Bradl who fell at the half way point after gambling with slick tyres. Bradl was the first to move to slick tyres and was sitting on pole position before he crashed.

Ducati rider Valentino Rossi will start from seventh on the grid.

1 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 303.7 1’33.638 
2 1 Casey STONER AUS Repsol Honda Team Honda 306.0 1’33.941 0.303 / 0.303
3 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 304.0 1’33.976 0.338 / 0.035
4 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 300.8 1’34.104 0.466 / 0.128
5 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 302.4 1’34.178 0.540 / 0.074
6 11 Ben SPIES USA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 299.0 1’34.669 1.031 / 0.491
7 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Ducati Team Ducati 298.5 1’34.907 1.269 / 0.238
8 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 300.4 1’34.922 1.284 / 0.015
9 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Pramac Racing Team Ducati 305.1 1’34.950 1.312 / 0.028
10 17 Karel ABRAHAM CZE Cardion AB Motoracing Ducati 301.8 1’35.250 1.612 / 0.300
11 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team Ducati 298.5 1’35.291 1.653 / 0.041
12 14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA Power Electronics Aspar ART 286.5 1’35.694 2.056 / 0.403
13 6 Stefan BRADL GER LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 300.7 1’35.862 2.224 / 0.168
14 51 Michele PIRRO ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini FTR 283.7 1’36.646 3.008 / 0.784
15 68 Yonny HERNANDEZ COL Avintia Blusens BQR 283.6 1’37.202 3.564 / 0.556
16 77 James ELLISON GBR Paul Bird Motorsport ART 279.2 1’37.666 4.028 / 0.464
17 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Power Electronics Aspar ART 281.3 1’37.760 4.122 / 0.094
18 9 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA Came IodaRacing Project Ioda 269.5 1’37.767 4.129 / 0.007
19 22 Ivan SILVA SPA Avintia Blusens BQR 282.0 1’38.198 4.560 / 0.431
20 54 Mattia PASINI ITA Speed Master ART 279.3 1’38.511 4.873 / 0.313
21 7 Chris VERMEULEN AUS NGM Mobile Forward Racing Suter 281.8 1’38.658 5.020 / 0.147