Lorenzo on pole despite major crash
Lorenzo was up to his old tricks in Practice 3
Jorge Lorenzo has taken pole position for Laguna Seca’s US Grand Prix just hours after walking away from a major practice crash.
Lorenzo had crashed at Turn 5 on his in-lap at the conclusion of Practice 3 – an incident that the reigning World Champion was at a loss to explain.
Casey Stoner ended qualifying just 0.074s shy of his title rival after improving on his final run, while team-mate Dani Pedrosa did likewise to complete the front-row.
Yamaha had looked set for a one-two performance part-way through the session until Ben Spies crashed during his final run and fell to fourth.
Marco Simoncelli, Andrea Dovizioso, Valentino Rossi, Hector Barbera, Nicky Hayden and Cal Crutchlow rounded out the top 10.
Hector Barbera and Randy de Puniet both suffered falls during qualifying, with the latter undergoing a trip to the medical centre following his mistake at Turn 5.
See below for the full qualifying result
|
Pos. |
Rider |
Nation |
Team |
Bike |
Time |
Gap 1st/Prev. |
| 1 | Jorge LORENZO | SPA | Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha | 1’21.202 | |
| 2 | Casey STONER | AUS | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 1’21.274 | 0.072 / 0.072 |
| 3 | Dani PEDROSA | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 1’21.385 | 0.183 / 0.111 |
| 4 | Ben SPIES | USA | Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha | 1’21.578 | 0.376 / 0.193 |
| 5 | Marco SIMONCELLI | ITA | San Carlo Honda Gresini | Honda | 1’21.696 | 0.494 / 0.118 |
| 6 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | ITA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 1’21.731 | 0.529 / 0.035 |
| 7 | Valentino ROSSI | ITA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 1’22.235 | 1.033 / 0.504 |
| 8 | Hector BARBERA | SPA | Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP | Ducati | 1’22.238 | 1.036 / 0.003 |
| 9 | Nicky HAYDEN | USA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 1’22.271 | 1.069 / 0.033 |
| 10 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | GBR | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 1’22.385 | 1.183 / 0.114 |
| 11 | Colin EDWARDS | USA | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 1’22.520 | 1.318 / 0.135 |
| 12 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | SPA | Rizla Suzuki MotoGP | Suzuki | 1’22.669 | 1.467 / 0.149 |
| 13 | Karel ABRAHAM | CZE | Cardion AB Motoracing | Ducati | 1’22.893 | 1.691 / 0.224 |
| 14 | Hiroshi AOYAMA | JPN | San Carlo Honda Gresini | Honda | 1’22.937 | 1.735 / 0.044 |
| 15 | Randy DE PUNIET | FRA | Pramac Racing Team | Ducati | 1’22.961 | 1.759 / 0.024 |
| 16 | Loris CAPIROSSI | ITA | Pramac Racing Team | Ducati | 1’23.876 | 2.674 / 0.915 |
| 17 | Toni ELIAS | SPA | LCR Honda MotoGP | Honda | 1’24.156 | 2.954 / 0.280 |
| 18 | Ben BOSTROM | USA | LCR Honda MotoGP | Honda | 1’25.291 | 4.089 / 1.135 |