Lorenzo beats Rossi to Barcelona pole

From motogp.com

The MotoGP qualifying session at the Gran Premi Cinzano de Catalunya on Saturday concluded with home rider Jorge Lorenzo securing his third pole position of 2009 in sweltering heat close to the Mediterranean coast.

The Fiat Yamaha star pleased the crowd in his special edition Barcelona FC livery securing the top slot on the grid with a 1:41.974 time on the 28th of 29 laps, putting him just ahead of team-mate Valentino Rossi by a 0.013-sec. margin.

With Rossi on provisional pole with seconds to go Lorenzo laid down his time to snatch the top spot after some adjustments to his electronics set-up just before his hot lap.

“I’m happy with this pole position because we had some problems with the soft tire, we had too much traction control, so I didn’t have enough power,” Lorenzo explained. “Then when I had my last opportunity for a fast lap we went down to just a little bit of traction control and I was able to go faster.”

Asked about his prospects for a third win of the season, the 22-year-old stated, “It is going to be a very difficult race for everyone and I am expecting a very good fight with Valentino, who has a very strong pace. It looks like Stoner and Dovizioso will be there too so I hope it’s an exciting race for the fans.

"I have a good rhythm here and I feel very comfortable on the bike so I am just going to stay focused and think about having a great race.”

Having never been off the podium in the premier class at Montmeló Rossi will be confident of maintaining that remarkable record on Sunday, though he knows he will have to be at his best to beat his talented young Spanish colleague.

“I’m so happy because we have worked well on the bike and from yesterday I feel good when I’m riding. It’s better than at other recent races," Rossi said. "This afternoon was a great practice, a great battle, and I was always fast. We made some modifications, improving step by step, but at the end I was just a little bit slower than Lorenzo. Anyway we were very close and I’m happy because I think it will be a great fight in the race.”

Completing the front row is Casey Stoner as MotoGP’s current trio of form riders showed their strengths once again, the Australian Ducati Marlboro representative lapping just under a half a second down on Lorenzo.

Andrea Dovizioso is the ‘nearly man’ in the premier class at present and he missed out on the front row by just 0.168 secs. on his Repsol Honda factory RC212V. Nonetheless the Italian will try to fight for the podium having just fallen short at the last two rounds.

In fifth place at his home track, not traditionally his strongest circuit, Toni Elías (San Carlo Honda Gresini) will aim to improve his poor Barcelona record from the middle of the second row, while Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) ended up sixth and might have done better had he not crashed towards the end of the session.

Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) has looked good so far this weekend and he qualified seventh, just in front of home hero Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) who also suffered a crash in the final moments – landing on his injured right hip, but not appearing to sustain any further damage as he walked away from the incident.

The top 10 was rounded off by Englishman James Toseland (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Finnish rider Mika Kallio (Pramac Racing), both northern Europeans doing well to deal with the ambient temperatures of 38°C.

After his compatriots Lorenzo and Julián Simón took pole in the MotoGP and 125cc classes respectively, Héctor Barberá made it a Spanish clean sweep of the top grid spots in the 250cc category as Saturday’s Barcelona action came to an end.

Pepe World Team rider Barberá put in a 1:46.899 time on his Aprilia to head the grid - for the first time this season - by 0.150 secs. in front of his fellow countryman and Aprilia rider Álvaro Bautista (Mapfre Aspar Team).

The sixth 125cc race of the year will start with Simón in pole position courtesy of his 1:51.448 best effort in qualifying.

MotoGP Qualifying Results
1. Jorge LORENZO (SPA) Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha 1:41.974
2. Valentino ROSSI (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha 1:41.987
3. Casey STONER (AUS) Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati 1:42.426
4. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (ITA) Repsol Honda Team Honda 1:42.594
5. Toni ELIAS (SPA) San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 1:43.139
6. Colin EDWARDS (USA) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1:43.168
7. Randy DE PUNIET (FRA) LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 1:43.175
8. Dani PEDROSA (SPA) Repsol Honda Team Honda 1:43.207
9. James TOSELAND (GBR) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1:43.233
10. Mika KALLIO (FIN) Pramac Racing Ducati 1:43.336
11. Loris CAPIROSSI (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 1:43.365
12. Chris VERMEULEN (AUS) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 1:43.411
13. Nicky HAYDEN (USA) Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati 1:43.414
14. Alex DE ANGELIS (RSM) San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 1:43.422
15. Sete GIBERNAU (SPA) Grupo Francisco Hernando Ducati 1:43.714
16. Yuki TAKAHASHI (JPN) Scot Racing Team MotoGP Honda 1:43.777
17. Marco MELANDRI (ITA) Hayate Racing Team Kawasaki 1:43.792
18. Niccolo CANEPA (ITA) Pramac Racing Ducati 1:43.991
19. Gabor TALMACSI (HUN) Scot Racing Team MotoGP Honda 1:45.833