Estoril MotoGP: Jorge Lorenzo storms to ‘dream’ third successive pole

Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo maintained his perfect qualifying record in 2008 with a third straight MotoGP pole position in Estoril today.

The Spaniard proved he is virtually untouchable on Michelin’s soft qualifying rubber as he beat compatriot and bitter rival Dani Pedrosa to pole this afternoon.

Lorenzo’s best lap of 1.35.715 was 0.233s clear of Repsol Honda rider Pedrosa as Yamaha claimed four of the top six grid places, with team-mate Valentino Rossi third and Tech 3 duo Colin Edwards and James Toseland fifth and sixth respectively.

The Fiat Yamaha rookie, who has yet to finish off the podium in his short MotoGP career, said: “Each pole position has felt like a dream and I can’t believe I am here again! I am very proud to have a record like this and in fact I’m especially happy to have qualified in front here because this track has always been quite difficult for me and I’ve never been on pole at it before.”

Lorenzo said his target for tomorrow’s 28-lap race will be to stay in contention for the victory. The double world 250 champion has failed to win from pole yet, having lost out to Casey Stoner in Qatar which was followed by a disappointing third in his home race in Jerez.

He added: “Our race pace is quite good and now the aim for tomorrow will be to make the most of my starting position, stay at the front and hopefully fight for the win. It’s going to be a hard race and there are many strong riders, but I am looking forward to it.

“Our aim is to try to win but if that’s not possible then the podium will be okay; it’s still only my third race and I am still learning all the time! Anyway, I feel good on my bike and tyres, the team have done a great job and now we just have to cross our fingers f or good weather tomorrow!”