Former MotoGP world champion Jorge Lorenzo has taken pole position for tomorrow's Jerez race, duking it out with compatriot Dani Pedrosa for top spot and going more than a second faster than third-placed man Nicky Hayden on the works Ducati - but Valentino Rossi, on an identical bike to the American, slumped to 13th place on a dry track.
Lorenzo and Pedrosa are a country mile ahead of the field, putting in 1'39.532 and 1'39.667 laps respectively with Hayden on a 1'40.563 while Monster Yamaha's Cal Crutchlow is at the head of row two after it looked like he could grab his first pole early on.
The Coventry man set a blinding lap at half-distance and then it began to rain with Crutchlow sitting pretty at the top of the sheets but the weather cleared up and he was forced to battle back again before sliding off unhurt. He re-mounted and continued to battle with the factory bikes, finishing ahead of reigning world champion Casey Stoner who could only muster fifth.
Ben Spies, on the second works Yamaha, was languishing in the middle order but woke up with 15 minutes left, jumping into third place but slipping down sixth. The former World Superbike Champion is 1.5s off the pace and a tenth in front of Andrea Dovizioso on the second Monster Yamaha.
Alvaro Bautista picked himself up from this morning crash to take eighth ahead of Stefan Bradl and Randy De Puniet, easily fastest of the CRT bikes in tenth. Rossi is some 3.4s off the pace, the last of the prototypes and mired in the middle of the CRT machinery with Hector Barbera's satellite Ducati in front of him. It is a far cry from yesterday's wet weather performance.
Britain's James Ellison finished in 20th with Colin Edwards one place behind him after a crash which saw him spat off the side of his NGM Forward CRT bike as it carried on upright into the air fence.
