Lorenzo takes San Marino MotoGP pole position with record lap
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Spain’s Jorge Lorenzo took pole position for Sunday’s San Marino MotoGP with a lap record in Saturday’s (September 8) qualifying.
Lorenzo beat his own lap record set in 2016 with a time of one minute 31.629 seconds at the Misano circuit, ahead of fellow Ducati rider Jack Miller of Australia and Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales.
World champion Marc Marquez fell five minutes from the end of the session but sprinted back to the pits to change his bike and managed to put in two more fast laps on his Honda, taking fifth place on the grid behind Andrea Dovizioso of Ducati.
Nine-times MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi, who missed the race last year because of injury and is second in the championship standings behind Marquez, could manage only seventh place on his Yamaha.
Lorenzo had been due to start on pole at Silverstone two weeks ago before the race was cancelled due to heavy rain.
Moto 2 championship leader Francesco Bagnaia of Italy secured his first back-to-back pole positions after qualifying with a time of 1 minute, 37.121 seconds. Germany’s Marcel Schrotter was second, 0.210 of a second behind Bagnaia while Italian Mattia Pasini was third, 0.295 of a second behind his compatriot.
In the Moto 3 category, Jorge Martin of Spain secured his eighth pole of the season on his Honda, clocking 1 minute, 41.823 seconds and smashing the lap record at Misano by 0.324 of a second. Lining up alongside Martin on the front row is Gabriel Rodrigo of Argentina who was 0.311 of a second behind Martin on his KTM and Spaniard Aron Canet who was third fastest on his Honda on his final run.