Casey Stoner did it again.
The Repsol Honda rider took his 10th pole position of the season at Motegi with blazing lap of 1’45″543 that broke not only Jorge Lorenzo’s 2008 qualifying record (before the one tire rule) but also lowering the same record that the Yamaha rider had set a couple of minutes earlier.
Jorge Lorenzo stopped the Repsol Honda domination that characterized this Japanese GP weekend so far.
The Spaniard came back to take second and he was 0.
256s adrift, the only other rider to go under the 1.
46 mark and now he has an interesting race pace.
Closing the front row will be Andrea Dovizioso who moved into third on his last flying lap, demoting Repsol Honda team mate Dani Pedrosa to 4th and Valentino Rossi to seventh.
With Pedrosa on the the second row will be a still recovering Ben Spies and Gresini Honda’s Marco Simoncelli who suffered a crash at turn 5 at the halfway mark of the session.
This was one of Rossi’s better qualifying sessions, even if he’s still 1,2 seconds off pace but at least he’s six tenths of second from Pedrosa.
Alvaro Bautista took his Suzuki to the 8th spot, followed by Aspar’s Hector Barbera in ninth, while Nicky Hayden who had an excellent start yesterday could manage only a 10th spot today.
MotoGP Motegi Qualifying Results:01- Casey Stoner – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC212V – 1’45.
26702- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
25603- Andrea Dovizioso – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC212V – + 0.
52404- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC212V – + 0.
69905- Ben Spies – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
77506- Marco Simoncelli – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC212V – + 0.
94407- Valentino Rossi – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP11.
1 – + 1.
20008- Alvaro Bautista – Rizla Suzuki MotoGP – Suzuki GSV-R – + 1.
31909- Hector Barbera – Mapfre Aspar Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – + 1.
42710- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP11.
1 – + 1.
49611- Hiroshi Aoyama – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC212V – + 1.
54412- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1.
55113- Randy De Puniet – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – + 1.
65014- Colin Edwards – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1.
89815- Karel Abraham – Cardion AB Motoracing – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – + 2.
65516- Toni Elias – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC212V – + 2.
90217- Kousuke Akiyoshi – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC212V – + 3.
10018- Damian Cudlin – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – + 3.
69519- Shinichi Itoh – Honda Racing Team – Honda RC212V – + 4.
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