Stoner scores Sachsenring pole

Added on Saturday, July 16th, 2011 by Carole Nash Editor | No Comments

Casey Stoner yet again took to the head of the field in qualifying this afternoon, as MotoGP heads to Germany for round nine at the Sachsenring.

A fast paced battle for pole position saw the seventeen riders battle it out until the very end, however Stoner again proved unbeatable. Jorge Lorenzo held the number spot for a while, but after a flying lap by Stoner with around fifteen minutes to go, it was the Repsol Honda rider who scored another pole position with a time of 1.21.681 seconds.

After his first race back from injury last time out at Mugello, Stoner’s teammate Dani Pedrosa was able to post the second quickest time, demoting Lorenzo to third place and the final front row spot.

Marco Simoncelli was the final rider in the 1 minute 21 second time, leaving him with fourth place for tomorrow’s race. Ben Spies scored a second row start with fifth place, just ahead of the third Repsol Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso in sixth.

The American duo of Colin Edwards and Nicky Hayden were next up to head the third row of the grid, with the final third row spot being won by Randy De Puniet. Alvaro Bautista scored the final position in the top ten courtesy of his Rizla Suzuki machine, with Hector Barbera and Cal Crutchlow just missing out.

Karel Abraham was the first of the riders in the 1 minute 23 second mark in thirteenth place, ahead of Toni Elias and Hiroshi Aoyama. Valentino Rossi had a difficult qualifying session, which left him in sixteenth place, one spot away from the back of the grid. The final spot went the way of Sylvain Guintoli for the Pramac Racing Team.

Qualifying Positions, MotoGP, Sachsenring:

Pos.	Rider	Nation	Team	Time
1	Casey STONER	AUS	Repsol Honda Team	1’21.681
2	Dani PEDROSA	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	1’21.933
3	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	Yamaha Factory Racing	1’21.944
4	Marco SIMONCELLI	ITA	San Carlo Honda Gresini	1’21.954
5	Ben SPIES	USA	Yamaha Factory Racing	1’22.056
6	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Repsol Honda Team	1’22.157
7	Colin EDWARDS	USA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	1’22.368
8	Nicky HAYDEN	USA	Ducati Team	1’22.388
9	Randy DE PUNIET	FRA	Pramac Racing Team	1’22.503
10	Alvaro BAUTISTA	SPA	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP	1’22.604
11	Hector BARBERA	SPA	Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP	1’22.676
12	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	1’22.676
13	Karel ABRAHAM	CZE	Cardion AB Motoracing	1’23.164
14	Toni ELIAS	SPA	LCR Honda MotoGP	1’23.201
15	Hiroshi AOYAMA	JPN	San Carlo Honda Gresini	1’23.248
16	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Ducati Team	1’23.320
17	Sylvain GUINTOLI	FRA	Pramac Racing Team	1’24.707