Lorenzo pips Stoner for pole

Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo pipped Casey Stoner to pole position for today’s Qatar Grand Prix, the opening race of the MotoGP season. The Spaniard clocked one minute 54.634 seconds to edge out his Honda-powered rival by 0.221 seconds after the lead shifted...

Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo pipped Casey Stoner to pole position for today’s Qatar Grand Prix, the opening race of the MotoGP season.

The Spaniard clocked one minute 54.634 seconds to edge out his Honda-powered rival by 0.221 seconds after the lead shifted back and forth between the pair.

Stoner was quickest in the practice part of the session and made a bid for pole 11 minutes from the session’s conclusion with a lap of 1:55.149.

Lorenzo answred by breaking 1:55 for the first time but Stoner nudged back ahead with 1:54.855, only for Lorenzo to have the final say.

Cal Crutchlow completed the front row for Monster Yamaha Tech 3, his best ever qualifying result. Yamaha’s Ben Spies was fourth.

Valentino Rossi’s Ducati could only manage 12th.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.