Fiat Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo set a blistering pace on his final lap to steal the pole position away from Ducati man Casey Stoner.
Under clear skies and sunny conditions at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca circuit, Fiat Yamaha man Jorge Lorenzo took the pole victory on his final lap of the hour-long practice session ahead of Ducati’s Casey Stoner. The Spaniard impressively topped Stoner by 0.191 seconds, with the two trading the lead time in the final minutes of the session. Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso rounded out the top-three with a best lap of 1’21.617.
Lorenzo and Stoner were at battle with each other during the entire session, with Stoner striking the first blow. It didn’t take long for Lorenzo to retaliate, however, and the Spaniard’s time of 1’21.945 stood unchallenged at the halfway point. In the last 10 minutes of qualifying the two began raising the bar, with Stoner setting a time of 1’21.175, and then improving upon it with just one minute left. Despite setting an extremely fast pace, Lorenzo was able to top it by becoming the only rider to dip below the 1’21 mark.
Running just under half a second off Stoner’s time was Dovizioso, who closed out the qualifying session in third with a best lap of 1'21.617. Dovizioso’s Honda teammate, Dani Pedrosa, took a close fourth-place on the timesheets and will start from the first row after laying down consistently fast laps in the final 10 minutes of qualifying. Texan Ben Spies fared much better in qualifying compared to the last round at Sachsenring, taking fifth with a time of 1'21.679.
In only his second MotoGP qualifying session after returning from a broken leg, Fiat Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi posted the sixth-fastest time. The Doctor struggled in the tight Corkscrew section of the circuit, where his leg suffered tremendous pressure while navigating through the turns. American Nicky Hayden followed Rossi in seventh, and Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider Colin Edwards had a solid session to place eighth. Rounding out the top-10 times in Saturday’s qualifying session were San Carlo Honda’s Marco Simoncelli and Ducati’s Hector Barbera, who took ninth and tenth respectively.
2010 MotoGP Laguna Seca Qualifying Results:
1. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 1'20.978
Ducati's Casey Stoner put in a valiant effort but ultimately was outpaced by Lorenzo during the final minutes of qualifying.
2. Casey Stoner (Ducati) 1'21.169
3. Andrea Dovzioso (Honda) 1'21.617
4. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 1'21.655
5. Ben Spies (Yamaha) 1'21.679
6. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 1'21.688
7. Nicky Hayden (Ducati) 1'21.920
8. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) 1'22.217
9. Marco Simoncelli (Honda) 1'22.300
10. Hector Barbera (Ducati) 1'22.366
11. Marco Melandri (Honda) 1'22.407
12. Loris Capirossi (Suzuki) 1'22.647
13. Aleix Espargaro (Ducati) 1'22.712
14. Alvaro Bautista (Suzuki) 1'22.770
15. Mika Kallio (Ducati) 1'23.127
16. Alex de Angelis (Honda) 1'23.226
17. Roger Lee Hayden (Honda) 1'23.764
