Qatar MotoGP: Lorenzo starts title defence with pole position

Factory Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo will start the first race of 2013 from pole position after seeing off Brit Cal Crutchlow in Q2.

Crutchlow again set the fastest lap on his first run in Q2, but after a tyre change Lorenzo set a fastest time of 1:54.714 to beat Crutchlow by 0.202s.

Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa set the third fastest time to complete the front row.

Andrea Dovizioso will start from the head of the second row in his first race for Ducati ahead of Honda riders Stefan Bradl and Marc Marquez.

It certainly wasn’t a dream return for Valentino Rossi during Q2. The factory Yamaha rider was only able to set the seventh fastest time. Rossi leads the third row ahead of Alvaro Bautista and Bradley Smith.

Pramac Ducati rider Andrea Iannone and CRT rider Aleix Espargaro were the fastest riders in Q1 andwent through to Q2. They qualified 10th and12th respectively.

1 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 335.9 1’54.714 
2 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 334.7 1’54.916 0.202 / 0.202
3 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 339.8 1’55.151 0.437 / 0.235
4 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 336.4 1’55.160 0.446 / 0.009
5 6 Stefan BRADL GER LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 340.0 1’55.477 0.763 / 0.317
6 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 339.0 1’55.645 0.931 / 0.168
7 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 337.7 1’55.711 0.997 / 0.066
8 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA GO&FUN Honda Gresini Honda 338.5 1’55.870 1.156 / 0.159
9 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 333.9 1’56.315 1.601 / 0.445
10 29 Andrea IANNONE ITA Energy T.I. Pramac Racing Ducati 339.8 1’56.523 1.809 / 0.208
11 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team Ducati 337.9 1’56.667 1.953 / 0.144
12 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Power Electronics Aspar ART 318.8 1’57.064 2.350 / 0.397

13 11 Ben SPIES USA Ignite Pramac Racing Ducati 334.7 1’57.440 0.289 / 0.237
14 14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA Power Electronics Aspar ART 316.4 1’57.551 0.400 / 0.111
15 52 Lukas PESEK CZE Came IodaRacing Project Ioda-Suter 314.5 1’57.926 0.775 / 0.375
16 68 Yonny HERNANDEZ COL Paul Bird Motorsport ART 314.4 1’58.058 0.907 / 0.132
17 7 Hiroshi AOYAMA JPN Avintia Blusens FTR 312.0 1’58.263 1.112 / 0.205
18 17 Karel ABRAHAM CZE Cardion AB Motoracing ART 314.2 1’58.271 1.120 / 0.008
19 5 Colin EDWARDS USA NGM Mobile Forward Racing FTR Kawasaki 313.9 1’58.361 1.210 / 0.090
20 9 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA Came IodaRacing Project Ioda-Suter 313.2 1’58.486 1.335 / 0.125
21 71 Claudio CORTI ITA NGM Mobile Forward Racing FTR Kawasaki 311.4 1’58.755 1.604 / 0.269
22 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Avintia Blusens FTR 319.5 1’58.806 1.655 / 0.051
23 67 Bryan STARING AUS GO&FUN Honda Gresini FTR Honda 315.6 1’58.912 1.761 / 0.106
24 70 Michael LAVERTY GBR Paul Bird Motorsport PBM 312.5 1’59.572 2.421 / 0.660