Simoncelli scores first MotoGP pole

Added on Saturday, June 4th, 2011 by Carole Nash Editor | No Comments

Marco Simoncelli scored his very first MotoGP pole position this afternoon, at the Barcelonda based Montmelo circuit.

After a wet day yesterday in practice, qualifying was dry as the field battled for front row supremacy. Casey Stoner was seemingly the man to beat as the session neared the end, however with just thirty seconds left on the clock, Simoncelli sneaked passed with a time of 1m42.413 seconds. As the chequered flag fell there was nothing more Stoner could do, despite having led the session for the duration.

Stoner will start second on the grid for tomorrow’s race, just 0.016 seconds adrift of Simoncelli, whilst Jorge Lorenzo will line up third. Ben Spies will start fourth, after missing a front row start by millimetres, ahead of Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow in fifth and sixth.

Valentino Rossi out-qualified his Ducati teammate Nicky Hayden in seventh, to be quicker than the American for the first time this weekend, with Hayden right alongside in eighth place. Alvaro Bautista secured the ninth fastest time, with Hector Barbera rounding out the top ten.

Hiroshi Aoyama and Randy De Puniet just missed out on a top ten position, qualifying eleventh and twelft, respectively. Meanwhile Loris Capirossi, Toni Elias and Karel Abraham will complete the grid. The field is two riders short this weekend, with Colin Edwards and Dani Pedrosa forced onto the sidelines due to injuries.

Qualifying Positions, MotoGP, Catalunya:

Pos.	Rider	Nation	Team	Time
1	Marco SIMONCELLI	ITA	San Carlo Honda Gresini	1’42.413
2	Casey STONER	AUS	Repsol Honda Team	1’42.429
3	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	Yamaha Factory Racing	1’42.728
4	Ben SPIES	USA	Yamaha Factory Racing	1’42.742
5	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Repsol Honda Team	1’42.749
6	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	1’43.202
7	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Ducati Team	1’43.223
8	Nicky HAYDEN	USA	Ducati Team	1’43.228
9	Alvaro BAUTISTA	SPA	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	1’43.447
10	Hector BARBERA	SPA	Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP	1’43.656
11	Hiroshi AOYAMA	JPN	San Carlo Honda Gresini	1’43.734
12	Randy DE PUNIET	FRA	Pramac Racing Team	1’43.764
13	Loris CAPIROSSI	ITA	Pramac Racing Team	1’44.068
14	Toni ELIAS	SPA	LCR Honda MotoGP	1’44.510
15	Karel ABRAHAM	CZE	Cardion AB Motoracing	1’45.661
	Colin EDWARDS	USA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3