Jorge Lorenzo will start the Shell Advance Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix from pole position – his sixth of the season – after topping qualifying at Sepang today. The Fiat Yamaha rider can secure the 2010 title with a finish of at least ninth place in Sunday’s race, and placed himself in prime position to do so with a best lap of 2’01.537.
Nicky Hayden appeared close to securing his first pole in three years when he took the lead of the session towards the end, but the Ducati rider will not be disappointed with his second front-row start of the season after eventually losing out to Lorenzo by exactly one-tenth of a second.
Following up his first premier class pole last time out at Motegi, Andrea Dovizioso secured third position on the grid with another impressive qualifying display. The sole Repsol Honda representative this weekend was 0.292s off Lorenzo’s marker by the conclusion of the hour-long session.
Just missing out on a front-row start by a margin of 0.164s, and also the final rider under the 2’02” barrier in the session, Ben Spies took fourth spot having led the timings with ten minutes remaining. Casey Stoner of the Ducati Team ended the session in fifth position, just seven-thousandths ahead of Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha) who took the final slot on row two.
Completing the top ten in the session were Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), Rizla Suzuki duo Álvaro Bautista and Loris Capirossi, and Marco Melandri (San Carlo Honda Gresini). Héctor Barberá (Paginas Amarillas Aspar) had a fall at the very end of the session and qualified in 15th.
The MotoGP race is scheduled to get underway at 4pm local time on Sunday.
SHELL ADVANCE MALAYSIAN MOTORCYCLE GRAND PRIX
Sepang Qualifying, Saturday, October 09, 2010
Pos. Num. Rider Nation Team Bike Km/h Time Gap 1st/Prev.
1 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha 309.2 2'01.537 2 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Ducati Team Ducati 306.6 2'01.637 0.100 / 0.100 3 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Repsol Honda Team Honda 310.3 2'01.829 0.292 / 0.192 4 11 Ben SPIES USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 304.5 2'01.993 0.456 / 0.164 5 27 Casey STONER AUS Ducati Team Ducati 309.1 2'02.023 0.486 / 0.030 6 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha 306.6 2'02.030 0.493 / 0.007 7 5 Colin EDWARDS USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 308.8 2'02.097 0.560 / 0.067 8 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 308.1 2'02.394 0.857 / 0.297 9 65 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki 310.1 2'02.522 0.985 / 0.128 10 33 Marco MELANDRI ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 309.6 2'02.624 1.087 / 0.102 11 58 Marco SIMONCELLI ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda 304.7 2'02.690 1.153 / 0.066 12 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Pramac Racing Team Ducati 306.6 2'02.723 1.186 / 0.033 13 14 Randy DE PUNIET FRA LCR Honda MotoGP Honda 305.4 2'02.775 1.238 / 0.052 14 7 Hiroshi AOYAMA JPN Interwetten Honda MotoGP Honda 308.8 2'02.778 1.241 / 0.003 15 40 Hector BARBERA SPA Paginas Amarillas Aspar Ducati 311.1 2'02.928 1.391 / 0.150 16 36 Mika KALLIO FIN Pramac Racing Team Ducati 308.0 2'04.167 2.630 / 1.239
