Casey Stoner takes pole at Valencia

Casey Stoner put on a stunning display in his final qualifying session with Ducati to take pole position for the last race of the 2010 season at Valencia, posting the only sub-1:32” lap of the weekend so far in a strong 45-minute run.

The Australian’s hot lap of 1:31.799 left him 0.331s clear at the top of the timesheet, and came after he had dealt with an early run-off as he pushed hard for his fourth pole of the campaign.

“I actually made a couple of mistakes on my last two laps otherwise I think I could have improved it but the important thing is that I was able to give Ducati another pole position before I sign off,” said Stoner.

“There are a couple of sections where we need to improve for tomorrow but other sections that remind me of Phillip Island in the way I can attack them so overall I am comfortable and confident. It will be an emotional day I’m sure tomorrow but for now my job is to focus on the race and achieving the best result possible.”

World Champion Jorge Lorenzo followed Stoner onto the front row with a best effort of 1:32.130 on his Fiat Yamaha M1 having led for a large portion of the session.

Carrying his progress from the practice sessions into qualifying was Marco Simoncelli and the Italian rookie’s display was rewarded with his first front-row start in the premier class. The San Carlo Honda Gresini rider was just over a tenth of a second off Lorenzo.

A late surge from Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha) placed the Italian fourth (+0.531s on Stoner) as he battled to find enough pace to challenge near the top end, with American duo Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) and Ben Spies (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) also taking places on the second row of the grid.

Completing the top ten in the session were Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda), Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) and Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini).

GP GENERALI DE LA COMUNITAT VALENCIANA : MotoGP Qualifying Practice Classification

Pos.	Rider	Team	Bike	Time
1	Casey Stoner	Ducati Team	Ducati	1’31.799
2	Jorge Lorenzo	Fiat Yamaha Team	Yamaha	1’32.130
3	Marco Simoncelli	San Carlo Honda Gresini	Honda	1’32.244
4	Valentino Rossi	Fiat Yamaha Team	Yamaha	1’32.330
5	Nicky Hayden	Ducati Team	Ducati	1’32.422
6	Ben Spies	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	1’32.566
7	Colin Edwards	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	1’32.579
8	Dani Pedrosa	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	1’32.603
9	Andrea Dovizioso	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	1’32.886
10	Marco Melandri	San Carlo Honda Gresini	Honda	1’32.917
11	Randy de Puniet	LCR Honda MotoGP	Honda	1’32.925
12	Aleix Espargaro	Pramac Racing Team	Ducati	1’33.085
13	Hector Barbera	Paginas Amarillas Aspar	Ducati	1’33.170
14	Loris Capirossi	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	Suzuki	1’33.339
15	Hiroshi Aoyama	Interwetten Honda MotoGP	Honda	1’33.343
16	Carlos Checa	Pramac Racing Team	Ducati	1’33.499
17	Alvaro Bautista	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	Suzuki	1’33.515