Jorge Lorenzo took an impressive fifth consecutive pole at Laguna Seca today, the 40th of his career across all classes. Ducati’s Casey Stoner was 2nd in front of Andrea Dovizioso of Repsol Honda. Valentino Rossi continued to struggle a little with the physical demands of the American track and will start from sixth on the grid.
Lorenzo, who also took pole at this race last year, was fastest in this morning’s free practice and looked in sublime form from the start of the qualifying session, moving to the top after just a few laps.
He spent the middle part of the session fine-tuning the setting of his M1 ahead of tomorrow’s race and relinquished the top spot for some time, before turning his attention back to lap times with eight minutes remaining and retaking the lead.
His only real challenger for pole was Casey Stoner, who edged the Mallorcan back into second with four minutes remaining but the championship-leader produced a stunning display on his penultimate lap to better the Australian’s time by 0.191 seconds and takes his fifth pole in a row.
Laguna Seca is proving less forgiving to Rossi on his return from injury than Sachsenring was last week and the World Champion struggled physically around the 3610m track today.
The biggest problem for him this afternoon was in the shoulder he injured back in April, in which he still lacks power and suffers in the hard braking areas. That said the Italian is confident that some small changes in tomorrow’s warm-up can help him to find a few more tenths and he will do all he can to race competitively in tomorrow’s 32-lap race.
Today’s qualifying was held in warm and sunny conditions with track temperatures reaching 47ºC. Tomorrow’s 32-lap race is round nine on the MotoGP calendar and the main event will get underway at 14.00hrs local time (21.00hrs GMT).
Qualifying Times :
1. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1’20.978
2. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro Team 1’21.169
3. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) Repsol Honda Team 1’21.617
4. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 1’21.655
5. Ben Spies (USA) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’21.679
6. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1’21.688
7. Nicky Hayden (USA) Ducati Marlboro Team 1’21.920
8. Colin Edwards (USA) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’22.217
9. Marco Simoncelli (ITA) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’22.300
10. Hector Barbera (SPA) Aspar Team 1’22.366
11. Marco Melandri (ITA) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’22.407
12. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1’22.647
13. Aleix Espargaro (SPA) Pramac Green Team 1’22.712
14. Alvaro Bautista (SPA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1’22.770
15. Mika Kallio (FIN) Pramac Green Team 1’23.127
16. Alex de Angelis (ITA) Interwetten Honda MotoGP 1’23.226
17. Roger Lee Hayden (USA) LCR Honda MotoGP 1’23.764
Photo : Fiat Yamaha / Rizla Suzuki / MotoGP
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