Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa has taken his second MotoGP pole position of the year this afternoon at Mugello, nicking top spot from countryman Jorge Lorenzo with his last lap while satellite Ducati man Hector Barbera not only shocked the paddock by qualifying on the outside of the front row, he did it without getting a tow from anyone.
Using the soft Bridgestone, Barbera lapped at 1'47.545, which was a little under three-tenths slower than Pedrosa but the Honda man's time was the fastest ever lap by a motorcycle around the Italian track. Barbera managed to fend off a challenge from the works GP12 of Nicky Hayden in fourth with reigning champion Casey Stoner only managing fifth place.
Yamaha, meanwhile, also produced some strangeness with Lorenzo pulling into the pits on his final fast lap after setting the fastest sectors until he encountered an electronics problem with his YZR-M1 and rolled down pitlane instead of finishing what was, until Pedrosa's lap, the quickest of the day. He said in the post-qualifying speeches that it began to go wrong a couple of laps earlier but then gave up the ghost right when he didn't need it to.
Cal Crutchlow and Ben Spies both crashed at the Correntaio right-hander in separate incidents. The Monster Yamaha man made the best recovery, getting back to the pits and coming out on the spare bike to set the sixth fastest time ahead of his team-mate Andrea Dovizioso. Spies, who also crashed yesterday, was on a pole postion schedule and fastest in the first two sectors when he went down and could only recover to ninth. German Stefan Bradl is one place in front of him.
Valentino Rossi's squad will be scratching their heads and wondering why the American in the other side of the garage is the thick end of a second faster than they are. The Doctor encountered chatter problems with the soft front tyre yesterday but said they had it sussed. However, Rossi could only muster tenth and 1.2s slower than Pedrosa.
Aleix Espargaro was once again the quickest of the CRT bikes in 12th overall with team-mate Randy De Puniet in second and Michele Pirro third. Britain's James Ellison was 16th and Colin Edwards in 19th.
Lap analysis
Although Dani Pedrosa nipped in to bag pole position, it is second-placed Jorge Lorenzo who is in ominous form, never going outside the 1'48s bracket in his six qualifying runs which comprised 13 full laps. The Yamaha man did five in the 1'47s bracket compared to Pedrosa who ran him close with three and six in the 1'48s.
Hector Barbera, in third, was all over the oche with two in the 1'47s, two in the 1'48s and the rest of his nine in the 1'49s. Fourth placed Nicky Hayden was somewhat more measured running three in the 1'48s, two in the 1'47s and the rest in the 1'49s. Casey Stoner had a somewhat strange session, putting in three 1'47s laps and only two in the 1'48s out of 16 full laps.
Britain's Cal Crutchlow has consistent 1'48s race pace as does his team-mate Andrea Dovizioso but he was able to slip into the 1'47s twice, once more than the Coventry man. Ben Spies also looks to have mid-1'48s pace while Valentino Rossi is in the late 1'48s-early 1'49s bracket, which may help him later in the race on the hard tyre.
