Qatar MotoGP: Lorenzo steals pole from Stoner

2010 MotoGP champion Jorge Lorenzo has ended Casey Stoner’s dominance, stealing pole position from the reigning champion in the dying moments of the qualifying session with a lap of 1:54.634.

Stoner spent the majority of the session at the top of the timesheets, before Lorenzo put in a soft tyre to knock the Australian off the top spot.

Brit Cal Crutchlow continued with the impressive pace he has shown in free practice, setting the third fastest time onboard his Tech 3 Yamaha.

Factory Yamaha rider Ben Spies heads the second row in fourth position despite a crash wih five minutes of the session remaining – his second crash of the weekend. Nicky Hayden was the fastest Ducati, setting the fifth fastest time.

Factory Honda rider Dani Pedrosa struggled throughout the hour long session, the Spaniard only managing to post the seventh fastest time, ahead of Hector Barbera.

Valentino Rossi also struggled, finishing the session in 12th, the slowest prototype machine, over two seconds behind Lorenzo.

American Colin Edwards was the fastest CRT rider onboard the BMW-powered Suter machine, only 0.831secs behind Rossi.

Brit James Ellison starts his first race onboard the Paul Bird Motorsport Aprilia CRT machine from 21st on the grid, the Brit unable to improve and suffering a crash late in the session.

1 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 327.1 1’54.634 
2 1 Casey STONER AUS Repsol Honda Team Honda 331.9 1’54.855 0.221 / 0.221
3 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 328.0 1’55.022 0.388 / 0.167
4 11 Ben SPIES USA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 326.1 1’55.512 0.878 / 0.490
5 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team Ducati 334.2 1’55.637 1.003 / 0.125
6 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 328.9 1’55.858 1.224 / 0.221
7 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 330.8 1’55.905 1.271 / 0.047
8 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Pramac Racing Team Ducati 337.1 1’55.983 1.349 / 0.078
9 6 Stefan BRADL GER LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 334.0 1’56.063 1.429 / 0.080
10 17 Karel ABRAHAM CZE Cardion AB Motoracing Ducati 333.5 1’56.198 1.564 / 0.135
11 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 334.3 1’56.521 1.887 / 0.323
12 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Ducati Team Ducati 338.1 1’56.813 2.179 / 0.292
13 5 Colin EDWARDS USA NGM Mobile Forward Racing Suter 314.8 1’57.644 3.010 / 0.831
14 14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA Power Electronics Aspar ART 309.6 1’58.266 3.632 / 0.622
15 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Power Electronics Aspar ART 312.1 1’58.520 3.886 / 0.254
16 68 Yonny HERNANDEZ COL Avintia Blusens BQR-FTR 303.6 1’58.795 4.161 / 0.275
17 51 Michele PIRRO ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini FTR 311.1 1’59.085 4.451 / 0.290
18 54 Mattia PASINI ITA Speed Master ART 311.5 1’59.195 4.561 / 0.110
19 9 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA Came IodaRacing Project Ioda 296.8 1’59.664 5.030 / 0.469
20 22 Ivan SILVA SPA Avintia Blusens BQR-FTR 306.1 2’00.493 5.859 / 0.829
21 77 James ELLISON GBR Paul Bird Motorsport ART 309.9 2’00.757 6.123 / 0.264