Jorge Lorenzo takes stunning pole at Misano in Yamaha Qualifying 1-2

The Movistar Yamaha MotoGP team was unbeatable during qualifying this afternoon as Jorge Lorenzo set a scorching pace to become the first rider ever to drop into the 1‘31s at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli.

He bettered the previous Circuit Best Lap record by 0.278s, which was set by himself last year, whilst teammate Valentino Rossi delighted the home crowd when he made a late charge, securing second place on the front row for tomorrow‘s ‘Grand Prix di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini’ making it a perfect 1-2 for the team.

Lorenzo was the second to last rider to head out on track for the start of the 15-minute qualifying heat and immediately put the hammer down. His first flying lap delivered a 1’32.310s for pole position. He kept pushing for the perfect lap and took his efforts to the next level dropping a blistering 1‘32.076s before returning to the pits with seven minutes remaining.

He was back on track less than two minutes later and was feeling confident that he would be able to further extend his lead. The latter stages of the session saw numerous protagonists put in hot laps but none were able to match Lorenzo‘s pace. In the final minute the Mallorcan delivered a scorching 1’31.868s lap time, putting his #99 YZR-M1 on pole for the third time this year.

JORGE LORENZO
I‘m very happy. I was delighted with these lap times because already the first one was unbelievable, a 1‘32.0s, but with riding over the limit more than normal I was able to improve this lap time by two tenths. When I saw I got pole I was delighted and very proud and I probably made the best lap ever for me. We made great progress with the setting, improving the bike little by little in all the corners, and in qualifying I had a great bike. Let‘s try to improve the small details for tomorrow, but I think we have a great pace to fight at least for the podium and let‘s see if we can fight for the win.

Source: Movistar Yamaha