MotoGP news

Lorenzo overjoyed with home pole

Home hero Jorge Lorenzo continued his impressive rookie assault on the MotoGP class with an outstanding pole position in Jerez today, smashing the existing pole record by almost a second aboard his Fiat Yamaha M1 in front of thousands of Spanish fans. The youngest rider on the grid produced a masterful qualifying display to take his second consecutive pole position and his 3rd at this circuit.

After topping the time sheets yesterday, Lorenzo continued gradually refining his set-up throughout this morning's free practice and the early part of the afternoon session, before setting the fastest lap so far on the first of three Michelin qualifying tyres with 20 minutes remaining. He bettered himself once again soon after before an inch-perfect final lap on his third soft tyre saw him improve another half a second to consolidate pole position. Dani Pedrosa was over half a second slower in second place whilst third spot was filled by Yamaha Tech 3 rider Colin Edwards for the second race running. Lorenzo's team-mate Valentino Rossi had looked on course to join him on the front row before an electronic problem caused him to abandon his final hot lap, and he will start from fifth for tomorrow's 27-lap race.

"The pole position and the second place in Qatar were like a dream, so it's an amazing surprise for me to repeat that pole position here, and even better because it's in front of my home fans!" exclaimed Lorenzo. "I was really happy with the last qualifying lap, my earlier ones were already quite good but not perfect, so I was really excited to make such a great final lap. Our race pace is good as well and I am feeling very comfortable on the bike and with my Michelin tyres. My rivals are very strong and will be trying hard to beat me, but I will definitely be fighting for the podium! Thanks to my team for doing a great job; I am really excited about tomorrow and I hope we have more weather like this and a fantastic show."

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