Jorge Lorenzo grabs 2013 Qatar pole position

fromTWOWHEELSBLOG

The first ever QP2 session in MotoGP with only 12 riders (10 plus the top 2 from QP1 joining them) saw Jorge Lorenzo take the first pole position of the season, his 26th in MotoGP and the 52nd of his career.

The Yamaha rider posted a blistering 1:54.714, but he had to sweat it as Cal Crutchlow continued to be in stunning form as he was the first rider to head under the 1.55 mark as he scored the second spot on tomorrow’s starting grid and it was his 9th front row start in MotoGP.

Dani Pedrosa took the third spot and he was a little more than four tenths adrift, while Repsol Honda rookie Marc Marquez will have to start sixth in his first qualifying session. Marquez had a small contact with Pedrosa, because the veteran MotoGP rider slowed down on the racing line because he thought he was being used as a tow, which ruined one of Marquez’ fast laps.

A surprisingly effective Andrea Dovizioso in his first qualifying session on the Ducati GP13 missed out on a front row start pipped by Pedrosa by a mere 0.009. Stefan Bradl finished fifth while Valentino Rossi completely messed up his qualifying and he was only 7th, almost a second adrift and will have to start from the third row with Alvaro Bautista and MotoGP rookie Bradley Smith who took 9th in his first ever MotoGP qualifying session, while the third MotoGP rookie, Andrea Iannone was 10th after passing QP1 with CRT rider Aleix Espargaro.

Nicky Hayden couldn’t do better than 11th and was more than 1.9 seconds adrift and 1.5 seconds slower than his new team mate. Aleix Espargaro who was the fastest rider in Q1 will start in 12th. Pramac Ducati’s Ben Spies was unable to make it into QP2, as he suffered a hard crash in FP4 which no doubt hampered his performance.

MotoGP Qatar QP2 results and starting grid:

01- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – 1’54.714
02- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.202
03- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 0.437
04- Andrea Dovizioso – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 0.446
05- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 0.763
06- Marc Marquez – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 0.931
07- Valentino Rossi – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.997
08- Alvaro Bautista – GO&FUN Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 1.156
09- Bradley Smith – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1.601
10- Andrea Iannone – Energy T.I. Pramac Racing – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 1.809
11- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 1.953
12- Aleix Espargaro – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP13 – + 2.350