First pole of season for Lorenzo

From motogp.com

Jorge Lorenzo secured his first pole position of the 2010 MotoGP campaign at the AirAsia British Grand Prix after an exciting qualifying practice at Silverstone on Saturday.

The World Championship leader battled with Randy de Puniet through the latter stages of the session, finally edging the Frenchman out with a best time of 2:03.308.

Lorenzo was unable to conceal his huge satisfaction as he bids to extend his 25-point lead at the top of the World Championship in Sunday’s race. The Spaniard is the only premier class rider to have started from the front row in every race this season but was yet to do so from pole.

"I am so happy about this first pole of the season, but I'm even happier about the fact that I felt so good on my M1 this afternoon,” said the 23-year-old after securing the 10th premier class pole of his career. “It is really important to be on the front row for tomorrow because this gives us the best chance of another podium.

“Today we did 18 consecutive laps with the hard tire and then another eight with the soft, which is a good sign, but the track was quite cold today and it took time for the tires to reach the right temperature, so we have to wait and see how the weather is for our final choice. I feel comfortable and I'm really looking forward to tomorrow, although I hope it isn't going to rain."

Lorenzo is in search of his third win of the campaign after two victories and two second places in the four rounds so far. The last time he started from pole was at Estoril last season, a race he won.

De Puniet had stunned the rest of the field with 15 minutes to go when he stripped half a second off Lorenzo’s top time, and the LCR Honda man looked on course for his first ever premier class pole when he again improved on that.

However, his 2:03.434 was eventually the second fastest time as Lorenzo took pole back, and the Frenchman was left to be satisfied with his first front row start since Assen 2007. De Puniet also experienced a fall right at the end of the session as he pushed hard, one which he escaped uninjured.

“It’s my first time on the front row for three years and the first time with the LCR Honda team, so I’m delighted,” De Puniet said. “I was really fast at the beginning of the weekend. I made a mistake with the crash but today I gave the maximum so it doesn’t matter that I crashed. I have a bit of pain in my finger, I don’t know what happened to it in the fall, but besides that I have no more problems and I’ll be ready to push in the race tomorrow.

“I pushed really hard and had an immediate good feeling with the soft tire. It’s impossible to race with these tires but they’re good for doing lap times, and that’s why I was so aggressive on the bike. The bike was perfect today.”

Despite his superb display De Puniet is determined to keep his feet on the ground.

“I’m confident because I think many riders will use soft tires and I think in the middle they’ll start to go off," he added. "I will use the harder one with which I have a good feeling and I think that could be the key to a good race.

“Pedrosa, Stoner, Dovizioso and Lorenzo are all very fast, and my target will be to be in the top six. A podium is possible but this year I don’t want to dream too much, I just want to do my race, and give my maximum. The top six and being the top satellite bike would be good.”

Completing the front row will be Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa, who was 0.152 secs. further back. The Spaniard set his fastest lap on his final turn of the circuit, and then had a crash at Turn 12 which saw him stretchered off the side of the track. X-rays at the medical centre confirmed that Pedrosa had suffered bruising to his left and right knees, and will be able to take his position on the starting grid on Sunday.

“I crashed when I was on my last qualifying lap as I was braking when going into a left hander,” explained the 24-year-old. “I hit some bumps and then the front started to move a lot and then had a little slide. Maybe the bike went over me and at that moment it hurt, but afterwards the pain went away so I’m okay for tomorrow.

“The lap times were getting faster in each session and I think I’m still learning the track - every time you go out you learn more about the line, the braking points and the corners where the bumps are - and that’s normal on a new track. We’re on the front row, which is always important for a good getaway, so tomorrow I hope we can have another good performance.

"We have a good machine setting, so I think we have the potential for a strong race. We still need to decide which of the Bridgestone tire options we’ll use because tomorrow it looks like it may be warmer than today.”

Leading the second row will be another Repsol Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso, who was four-tenths of a second off his team-mate’s pace and the final rider to get within a second of Lorenzo (+0.687 secs.).

Ducati Marlboro duo Nicky Hayden and Casey Stoner had just 0.062 secs. between them as they took fifth and sixth spots on the grid respectively.

The top 10 in the session was completed by Ben Spies (Monster Yamaha Tech3), San Carlo Honda Gresini pair Marco Melandri and Marco Simoncelli, and Spies’ team-mate Colin Edwards.

Sunday’s MotoGP race will start at 1:00pm local time.

The Forward Racing team were celebrating a qualification one-two at the AirAsia British Grand Prix on Saturday as Claudio Corti and Jules Cluzel took the top spots for Sunday’s Moto2 race at Silverstone.

Corti’s first World Championship pole was secured with a best lap of 2:09.624, making him the first rider under to go under 2:10 this weekend.

Cluzel was 0.413 secs. off his team-mate’s pace as the Frenchman achieved his third successive front row grid position this season.

Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing) – at 0.376 secs. further back – and Julián Simón (Mapfre Aspar) were separated by just six-thousandths of a second as they completed an all Suter front row.

Marc Márquez will start the 125cc AirAsia British Grand Prix from pole position on Sunday after topping qualifying, a best time of 2:14.667 on his final lap of the 40-minute session securing him his third pole of the 2010 campaign.

The late effort from Márquez pushed him in front of Bradley Smith (Bancaja Aspar), who had become the first 125cc rider of the weekend to go under 2:15 with his 2:14.966 on his penultimate lap. That placed the Brit second, 0.146 secs. ahead of Pol Espargaró (Tuenti Racing), with Championship leader Nico Terol (Bancaja Aspar) nine-tenths off Márquez’s pace as he completed the front row.

MotoGP Qualifying Results
1. Jorge LORENZO (SPA) Fiat Yamaha 2:03.308
2. Randy DE PUNIET (FRA) LCR Honda 2:03.434
3. Dani PEDROSA (SPA) Repsol Honda 2:03.586
4. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (ITA) Repsol Honda 2:03.995
5. Nicky HAYDEN (USA) Ducati 2:04.332
6. Casey STONER (AUS) Ducati 2:04.394
7. Ben SPIES (USA) Monster Tech 3 Yamaha 2:04.477
8. Marco MELANDRI (ITA) San Carlo Gresini Honda 2:04.555
9. Marco SIMONCELLI (ITA) San Carlo Gresini Honda 2:04.868
10. Colin EDWARDS (USA) Monster Tech 3 Yamaha 2:05.035
11. Hector BARBERA (SPA) Paginas Amarillas Aspar Ducati 2:05.354
12. Hiroshi AOYAMA (JPN) Interwetten Honda 2:05.712
13. Aleix ESPARGARO (SPA) Pramac Ducati 2:05.748
14. Loris CAPIROSSI (ITA) Rizla Suzuki 2:05.821
15. Alvaro BAUTISTA (SPA) Rizla Suzuki 2:06.607
16. Mika KALLIO (FIN) Pramac Ducati 2:06.980