Fiat Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo has taken the MotoGP pole position at Estoril this afternoon with a storming lap which neither team-mate Valentino Rossi or the returning Casey Stoner could match.
The Spaniard has not won from pole this year, but he will hope to do so on Sunday as he seeks to reduce the 30-point advantage his team-mate Valentino Rossi enjoys at the top of the standings. Lorenzo’s best Saturday time of 1’36.214 on the 27th of his 29 laps was enough to put him at the front of the grid for the round 14 contest.
On the other side of the Fiat Yamaha pit-box Rossi reminded his colleague that he will be in and around him on Sunday whatever happens, the Italian lapping a quarter of a second behind Lorenzo.
A commendable effort by Casey Stoner, on his return to GP action after two months away due to illness, saw the Australian former World Champion bounce back with a front row result – courtesy of a best time just 0.054s slower than Rossi’s fastest.
Dani Pedrosa has been close to the front in all three sessions so far and is likely to be a threat from the front of the second row on Sunday. The Catalan rider was around half a second off Lorenzo’s pace.
In fifth place again was the best performing satellite rider of the year so far, Colin Edwards, who has looked consistently fast throughout the weekend on his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 machine.
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