Dani Pedrosa may be out of the Motegi race after breaking his collarbone, but team mate Andrea Dovizioso kept the Honda Repsol colours flying by taking the pole position in today’s exciting qualifying session on the sunny Japanese track.
The Italian took his first pole position of the season and his first ever in MotoGP with a burning lap of 1′47″001 that propelled him to the top of the charts with Valentino Rossi in second and just 0.
054s from the Honda rider.
Rossi using the new upgraded Yamaha engine.
second spot marks his first front row start since the Le Mans round.
Completing the front row will be Casey Stoner, who struggled throughout the session, but finally found the right set-up and enough grip to take the third position.
Jorge Lorenzo who lead most of the qualifying session was demoted to fourth and just 0.
205s from Dovizioso, but the soon to be World Champion who was re-confirmed in Yamaha today.
has an impressive race pace that no other rider has shown so far this weekend so taking off from the second row shouldn’t be a drama.
The Texas duo, Colin Edwards and Ben Spies were fifth and sixth respectively, making it four Yamaha riders in the top six.
Randy de Puniet took seventh despite running off track several times and he was ahead of Marco Simoncelli and Alvaro Bautista and Loris Capirossi in 10th after a crash during the opening minutes of the session.
Nicky Hayden, who took his first podium of the season at Aragon, this weekend hasn’t been able to find his pace and was the second best Ducati rider in a lowly eleventh.
MotoGP Motegi Qualifying Results:01- Andrea Dovizioso – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC212V – 1′47.
00102- Valentino Rossi – Fiat Yamaha Team – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
05403- Casey Stoner – Ducati Marlboro Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP10 – + 0.
10404- Jorge Lorenzo – Fiat Yamaha Team – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
20505- Colin Edwards – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
46306- Ben Spies – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
64707- Randy De Puniet – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC212V – + 0.
75108- Marco Simoncelli – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC212V – + 0.
91309- Alvaro Bautista – Rizla Suzuki MotoGP – Suzuki GSV-R – + 1.
00110- Loris Capirossi – Rizla Suzuki MotoGP – Suzuki GSV-R – + 1.
06711- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Marlboro Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP10 – + 1.
18112- Marco Melandri – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC212V – + 1.
23713- Aleix Espargaro – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP10 – + 1.
37014- Hiroshi Aoyama – Interwetten Honda MotoGP – Honda RC212V – + 1.
39515- Hector Barbera – Paginas Amarillas Aspar – Ducati Desmosedici GP10 – + 1.
53416- Mika Kallio – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP10 – + 2.
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