Last-gasp Lorenzo gains upper hand
The Factory Yamaha star left it until three laps before the end of the session before deposing Pedrosa on the Repsol Honda, clocking the fastest lap of the day in a time of 1m 49.404s to claim his fifth pole start of the season by 0.088s.
Lorenzo made his last-ditch effort on fresh rubber to power to the head of the time sheets after gradually upping his pace during the afternoon session to dispute the leading positions with team-mate Ben Spies, plus Pedrosa and Briton Cal Crutchlow on the Tech 3 Yamaha.
Lorenzo, a clear favourite to land his second MotoGP crown this season after Pedrosa was taken out of contention at Misano, said he believed Crutchlow was on the verge of taking pole on the satellite M1.
“I feel happy, I really thought Cal would take pole position because his lap time was really quick but finally we managed to improve our lap time with the last qualifying tyre,” he said.
“It's important to be on the front row in pole position but tomorrow is what counts, we have to do a lot of laps and it's going to be a long race.
“Let's see how the weather is, we all hope it's not going to rain, it's much better if it's dry.”
The session was held on a dry track with some damp patches.
