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Mugello MotoGP: Dani Pedrosa snatches pole from Jorge Lorenzo

Dani Pedrosa stunned Yamaha by snatching a last-gasp Honda pole for MotoGP's Italian Grand Prix at Mugello

Pedrosa was languishing in seventh as the chequered flag fell on Q2, while Lorenzo - who had been quickest in practice - held a dominant provisional pole on a record 1m47.226s.

But Pedrosa found a massive improvement on his last lap and vaulted right up to first, beating Lorenzo by 0.069 seconds as he crossed the line in 1m47.157s.

Andrea Dovizioso's final lap was also a special one, thrusting him forward to third place and a front-row start for Ducati at home.

Neck pain from his Friday practice crash is likely to hamper Dovizioso in the race, though.

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There was disappointment for Valentino Rossi. The local hero looked set for a breakthrough qualifying performance as he held third place going into the closing stages, only for the rush of late improvements to shove his Yamaha right down to seventh.

The battered Marc Marquez easily got through from Q1 to Q2 and briefly appeared in a provisional second on the grid. He could not stay there and slipped back to sixth.

Fourth was a great effort for Cal Crutchlow after another qualifying crash.

He fell with eight minutes of Q2 remaining, rushed back for his spare Tech 3 Yamaha and then beat Stefan Bradl and Marquez to fourth place on the grid.

All three factory Ducatis were in the top 10, as Nicky Hayden and Michele Pirro qualified eighth and 10th, split by Alvaro Bautista.

But Pramac Ducati had no bikes in Q2. Ben Spies withdrew following Friday practice as his injuries remained troublesome, and Andrea Iannone could only manage 13th.

Bradley Smith, riding with a hand injury following his practice crash, made it out of Q1 and secured 11th on the grid, ahead of CRT leader Aleix Espargaro.

Pos  Rider             Team/Bike             Time       Gap
 1.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda                 1m47.157s
 2.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha                1m47.226s  + 0.069s
 3.  Andrea Dovizioso  Ducati                1m47.628s  + 0.471s
 4.  Cal Crutchlow     Tech 3 Yamaha         1m47.632s  + 0.475s
 5.  Stefan Bradl      LCR Honda             1m47.737s  + 0.580s
 6.  Marc Marquez      Honda                 1m47.763s  + 0.606s
 7.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha                1m47.872s  + 0.715s
 8.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati                1m48.006s  + 0.849s
 9.  Alvaro Bautista   Gresini Honda         1m48.355s  + 1.198s
10.  Michele Pirro     Ducati                1m48.564s  + 1.407s
11.  Bradley Smith     Tech 3 Yamaha         1m48.706s  + 1.549s
12.  Aleix Espargaro   Aspar Aprilia         1m48.765s  + 1.608s
13.  Andrea Iannone    Pramac Ducati         1m49.265s  + 2.108s
14.  Randy de Puniet   Aspar Aprilia         1m49.266s  + 2.109s
15.  Hector Barbera    Avintia FTR-Kawasaki  1m49.847s  + 2.690s
16.  Danilo Petrucci   Ioda-Suter-BMW        1m50.518s  + 3.361s
17.  Colin Edwards     Forward FTR-Kawasaki  1m50.701s  + 3.544s
18.  Claudio Corti     Forward FTR-Kawasaki  1m50.729s  + 3.572s
19.  Michael Laverty   PBM-Aprilia           1m50.787s  + 3.630s
20.  Karel Abraham     Cardion Aprilia       1m51.089s  + 3.932s
21.  Yonny Hernandez   PBM Aprilia           1m51.239s  + 4.082s
22.  Bryan Staring     Gresini FTR-Honda     1m51.981s  + 4.824s
23.  Hiroshi Aoyama    Avintia FTR-Kawasaki  1m52.148s  + 4.991s
24.  Lukas Pesek       Ioda-Suter-BMW        1m52.345s  + 5.188s

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