Thanks to a crash by Danit Pedrosa early in qualifying and Jorge Lorenzo who solve the 4th sector grip problems (using his old data) that he had in this morning’s FP3 at the Czech circuit at Brno, Lorenzo dominated the session and the Yamaha rider on his fourth lap our first broke Valentino Rossi’s 2009 pole position record (1.56.145) and then went on to better himself in the final minutes to post a blistering lap time in 1.55.799 and take his 4th pole position of the season and his 22nd in MotoGP.
Cal Crutchlow -who announced this morning that he signed for another season with Tech3 - also suffered a crash early on, but the mishap didn’t stop the Briton, because when he returned to track he ended up posting the second fastest time of the day - he was just 0.196s adrift from his factory counterpart - and take his fourth front row start.
Dani Pedrosa’s lowside left him lingering around the 5th spot for the most part of the session due to chattering issues and it took his last flying lap and a highly effective fourth sector that pushed him into third and a front row start and pipping Ben Spies by a mere 0.004s for the position.
Andrea Dovizioso couldn’t repeat his previous performances in practice (he was 3rd and 4th) and he’ll have to start in fifth. The Yamaha also suffered some sort of technical issue or he ran out of gas, because he had to park his satellite M1 against the fence at the end of session.
Valentino Rossi will be taking off in sixth and on the second row, his best qualifying result this season - he also qualified 6th and finished 6th last year always at Brno. Stefan Bradl was seventh - and the rumors that he could replace injured Casey Stoner in Repsol Honda in the upcoming races have been denied by Livio Suppo who expects that it will be a test rider.
Alvaro Bautista finished in 8th while his Gresini team mate Michele Pirro crashed out at turn 6 when the engine of his CRT Honda suffered a technical issue and then started to billow white smoke. In the last four races Pirro has yet to complete a race. Karel Abraham finished in 9th and he suffered a big crash in the dying moments. Randy de Puniet closed out the top 10 and he too also suffered a crash.
MotoGP Brno Qualifying Results:
01- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – 1’55.799
02- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.196
03- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.528
04- Ben Spies – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.532
05- Andrea Dovizioso – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.760
06- Valentino Rossi – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 0.936
07- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 1.028
08- Alvaro Bautista – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 1.269
09- Karel Abraham – Cardion AB Motoracing – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 1.974
02- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.196
03- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.528
04- Ben Spies – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.532
05- Andrea Dovizioso – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.760
06- Valentino Rossi – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 0.936
07- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 1.028
08- Alvaro Bautista – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 1.269
09- Karel Abraham – Cardion AB Motoracing – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 1.974
10- Randy De Puniet – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP12 – + 2.045o a crash by Dani
