It was an all-time record 63 poles apiece for Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP), teammate Valentino Rossi and Repsol Honda Team's Marc Marquez heading into qualifying at Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, with the next man to take the top spot poised to take back the record.
That man was Jorge Lorenzo, as the 'Spartan' topped the session twice before finally breaking into the 1:31s on his final attempt. The 1:31.868 is the first ever laptime in the bracket around Misano, and smashes his own pole record from 2015. Lorenzo also looked strong on race pace in the proceeding practice sessions, and will be looking to take back the top step on Sunday on arch-rival Rossi's home turf.
Lorenzo: "We didn't expect this lap time!"
Jorge Lorenzo (P1 - Pole Position record): "You always have the impression that the last pole position is the best of your life but I really think that this one is. Maybe the second one is also a great lap time, but because I already had that I wanted to risk a bit more to improve the lap time and I risked a bit more in the braking and opened the throttle a bit more, especially in the slow corners where there is less chance of injury. So I'm really happy about the pole position. In FP4 my rear tyre was a bit less grippy but we were able to make some improvements and in qualifying, with less petrol, finally we were able to do this lap time. Little by little we've improved the bike in a lot of corners, practice-by-practice, and I think we have a clear idea of what tires we're going to use. It depends on the bike and the rider. Race pace I think we're on 33.0 and high 32s, and that could be winning pace."
GP TIM DI SAN MARINO E DELLA RIVIERA DI RIMINI
MotoGP Qualifying Nr. 2 Classification 2016 Misano Adriatico, Saturday, September 10, 2016
Pos. Num. Rider Nation Team Bike Km/h Time Gap 1st/Prev.1 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 289.8 1'31.868 2 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 289.2 1'32.216 0.348 / 0.3483 25 Maverick VIÑALES SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 291.3 1'32.381 0.513 / 0.1654 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 286.7 1'32.443 0.575 / 0.0625 51 Michele PIRRO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 292.0 1'32.467 0.599 / 0.0246 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 294.3 1'32.677 0.809 / 0.2107 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR LCR Honda Honda 286.9 1'32.743 0.875 / 0.0668 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 290.8 1'32.859 0.991 / 0.1169 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 285.4 1'32.918 1.050 / 0.05910 44 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 287.3 1'33.002 1.134 / 0.08411 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Avintia Racing Ducati 288.3 1'33.301 1.433 / 0.29912 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 287.0 1'33.929 2.061 / 0.628
