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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.

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.

STARTING GRID:

Pos Rider Team Bike Time Gap
1 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha Yamaha 1m37.910s -
2 Marc Marquez Honda Honda 1m38.300s 0.390s
3 Andrea Iannone Ducati Ducati 1m38.468s 0.558s
4 Pol Espargaro Tech 3 Yamaha 1m38.539s 0.629s
5 Valentino Rossi Yamaha Yamaha 1m38.632s 0.722s
6 Aleix Espargaro Suzuki Suzuki 1m38.638s 0.728s
7 Cal Crutchlow LCR Honda 1m38.714s 0.804s
8 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati Ducati 1m38.823s 0.913s
9 Yonny Hernandez Pramac Racing Ducati 1m39.464s 1.554s
10 Bradley Smith Tech 3 Yamaha 1m39.491s 1.581s
11 Danilo Petrucci Pramac Racing Ducati 1m39.789s 1.879s
12 Scott Redding Marc VDS Honda 1m39.825s 1.915s
13 Hector Barbera Avintia Racing Ducati 1m39.569s -
14 Maverick Vinales Suzuki Suzuki 1m39.603s -
15 Alvaro Bautista Aprilia Gresini Aprilia 1m39.612s -
16 Hiroshi Aoyama Honda Honda 1m39.866s -
17 Eugene Laverty Aspar Honda 1m39.974s -
18 Nicky Hayden Aspar Honda 1m40.025s -
19 Stefan Bradl Forward Racing Yamaha Forward 1m40.166s -
20 Karel Abraham AB Motoracing Honda 1m40.177s -
21 Loris Baz Forward Racing Yamaha Forward 1m40.280s -
22 Jack Miller LCR Honda 1m40.365s -
23 Mike Di Meglio Avintia Racing Ducati 1m40.817s -
24 Alex de Angelis IodaRacing Project ART/Aprilia 1m41.108s -
25 Marco Melandri Aprilia Gresini Aprilia 1m41.273s -


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