Pedrosa claims MotoGP pole at Mugello after Lorenzo abandons late flyer

Lorenzo had been quickest in all three practice sessions and for the majority of qualifying. Pedrosa edged 0.058 seconds ahead of him with a 1m47.365s in the closing minutes, but Lorenzo's Yamaha was on course to depose the Honda for the first three sectors of his final lap before abandoning it and angrily pulling into the pits, slamming his hand on the front of his bike in displeasure as he did so.

In a session full of surprises, Pramac Ducati Hector Barbera secured the first front row start of his MotoGP career in third place, beatings works Ducati rider Nicky Hayden.

Honda's Casey Stoner was only fifth, having been off the pace throughout the hour. The Australian never looked like a pole contender, having also been unhappy with his bike in Friday practice.

Cal Crutchlow recovered from a late crash at the Correntaio corner to beat Tech 3 Yamaha team-mate Andrea Dovizioso to sixth with his last lap.

Ben Spies had a similar accident to Crutchlow on the second works Yamaha, and could only qualify ninth, between Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda) and Valentino Rossi (Ducati).

Alvaro Bautista's miserable weekend continued as he took 11th on the Gresini Honda.

Aleix Espargaro beat Aspar Aprilia team-mate Randy de Puniet by just 0.063s in the battle for CRT honours.

Pos  Rider             Team/Bike                 Time      Gap
 1.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda                     1m47.284s
 2.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha                    1m47.423s  + 0.139s
 3.  Hector Barbera    Pramac Ducati             1m47.545s  + 0.261s
 4.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati                    1m47.671s  + 0.387s
 5.  Casey Stoner      Honda                     1m47.689s  + 0.405s
 6.  Andrea Dovizioso  Tech 3 Yamaha             1m47.749s  + 0.465s
 7.  Stefan Bradl      LCR Honda                 1m47.751s  + 0.467s
 8.  Cal Crutchlow     Tech 3 Yamaha             1m47.857s  + 0.573s
 9.  Ben Spies         Yamaha                    1m48.149s  + 0.865s
10.  Valentino Rossi   Ducati                    1m48.502s  + 1.218s
11.  Alvaro Bautista   Gresini Honda             1m48.894s  + 1.610s
12.  Aleix Espargaro   Aspar Aprilia             1m49.387s  + 2.103s
13.  Randy de Puniet   Aspar Aprilia             1m49.450s  + 2.166s
14.  Michele Pirro     Gresini FTR-Honda         1m50.263s  + 2.979s
15.  Yonny Hernandez   Avintia FTR-Kawasaki      1m50.610s  + 3.326s
16.  James Ellison     Paul Bird Aprilia         1m50.812s  + 3.528s
17.  Mattia Pasini     Speed Master Aprilia      1m50.953s  + 3.669s
18.  Ivan Silva        Avintia Inmotec-Kawasaki  1m51.242s  + 3.958s
19.  Colin Edwards     Forward Suter-BMW         1m51.348s  + 4.064s
20.  Danilo Petrucci   Ioda-Aprilia              1m51.473s  + 4.189s