Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo takes pole for Spanish MotoGP round

Jorge Lorenzo continued his domination of MotoGP's Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez by taking his first pole position since Misano last September.

The Yamaha rider was unstoppable in Q2, setting provisional pole with his first flying lap and then twice improving on it to get down to a 1m37.910s - the fastest ever motorcycle lap around Jerez.

That put Lorenzo, who has yet to take a podium finish in 2015 but who topped three of the four Jerez practice sessions, on pole by nearly four tenths of a second.

Marc Marquez crashed in the practice four session immediately before qualifying, but avoided further damaging his broken finger and managed to put his Honda second on the grid.

Practice four pacesetter Andrea Iannone produced another strong qualifying performance for Ducati to complete the front row in third, although his works team-mate Andrea Dovizioso could only manage eighth.

Pol Espargaro was in contention for a front row spot on the Tech 3 Yamaha, having been very quick in practice, but had to settle for fourth.

That put him ahead of championship leader Valentino Rossi. The Yamaha rider admitted on Friday that he was struggling to find a tyre or set-up that worked at Jerez.

Aleix Espargaro qualified sixth for Suzuki, ahead of the unwell Cal Crutchlow.

Pramac Ducati pair Danilo Petrucci and Yonny Hernandez made it into the pole shootout from Q2, with Hernandez going on to take ninth ahead of Bradley Smith, Petrucci and Scott Redding.

Suzuki's second rider Maverick Vinales slid through the gravel at the final corner in Q1 on a flying lap that was set to take him into Q2.

The furious rookie was left 14th on the grid, between Hector Barbera's Avintia Ducati and the improving Gresini Aprilia of Alvaro Bautista.

Hiroshi Aoyama continued to struggle on Dani Pedrosa's usual factory Honda and was 16th.

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