Lorenzo on pole at Estoril

Added on Saturday, April 30th, 2011 by Carole Nash Editor | No Comments

Jorge Lorenzo scored a last minute pole position ahead of tomorrow’s MotoGP race from Estoril, taking his first pole position start of the season.

The young Spaniard powered his Yamaha machine to the top spot, to pick up the pieces from Marco Simoncelli. It had looked as though Simoncelli was going to secure pole position in the overcast session, however a crash from the Italian gave Lorenzo the space to better his time.

Still holding onto second place on the grid for tomorrow’s race, Simoncelli will start ahead of Dani Pedrosa. Casey Stoner managed to ride to fourth place on the grid, and will be determined to fight back after his infamous crash with Valentino Rossi last time out. Ben Spies, Lorenzo’s teammate, set the fifth fastest time on his Yamaha, with Andrea Dovizioso sixth.

Colin Edwards battled through the qualifying hour to set the seventh fastest time, ahead of his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 teammate Cal Crutchlow. Rossi was the quickest of the Ducati riders, in ninth place, with Hector Barbera tenth. Rossi’s Ducati teammate Nicky Hayden will start thirteenth.

A cloudy day has left rain threatening, as everyone looks on to tomorrow to see if the dry weather will hold out for race day.

Qualifying Positions, MotoGP, Estoril:

Pos.	Rider	Nation	Team	Time
1	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	Yamaha Factory Racing	1’37.161
2	Marco SIMONCELLI	ITA	San Carlo Honda Gresini	1’37.294
3	Dani PEDROSA	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	1’37.324
4	Casey STONER	AUS	Repsol Honda Team	1’37.384
5	Ben SPIES	USA	Yamaha Factory Racing	1’37.866
6	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Repsol Honda Team	1’38.073
7	Colin EDWARDS	USA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	1’38.080
8	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	1’38.189
9	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Ducati Team	1’38.271
10	Hector BARBERA	SPA	Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP	1’38.363
11	Hiroshi AOYAMA	JPN	San Carlo Honda Gresini	1’38.497
12	Karel ABRAHAM	CZE	Cardion AB Motoracing	1’38.786
13	Nicky HAYDEN	USA	Ducati Team	1’38.922
14	Loris CAPIROSSI	ITA	Pramac Racing Team	1’38.934
15	Alvaro BAUTISTA	SPA	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	1’39.172
16	Randy DE PUNIET	FRA	Pramac Racing Team	1’39.378
17	Toni ELIAS	SPA	LCR Honda MotoGP	1’39.894