Repsol Honda's Casey Stoner has taken another MotoGP pole position today at the Sachsenring while nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi is languishing on the back row and is only faster than Pramac Ducati replacement Sylvain Guintoli.
Stoner was racing himself for the pole, setting his fastest time of 1'21.681 with his final lap on a soft tyre. He heads a Repsol one-two on the front row, joined by team-mate Dani Pedrosa with Jorge Lorenzo spoiling the HRC party, diving ahead of Marco Simoncelli on his final lap with a 1'21.944.
Rossi, meanwhile, may be suffering the effects of his crash yesterday. He said last night he had aggravated his shoulder injury from last year and hoped it wouldn't get any worse but the Italian could only muster a 1'23.320 which is 1.6s slower than Stoner.
Ben Spies, who is still full of cold, managed to take fifth place and is only just four-tenths off the pace while Andrea Dovizoso occupies the final second-row spot.
Colin Edwards bagged seventh with his last lap, just ahead of Nicky Hayden with Randy De Puniet and Alvaro Bautista rounding out the top ten. Britain's Cal Crutchlow ended in 12th after a crash at the bottom of the waterfall saw him spat into the gravel. He walked away from the crash but looked distinctly dischuffed given he was on a soft tyre.
