Casey Stoner secures Italian Grand Prix pole between showers at Mugello
Casey Stoner claimed his fifth pole position of the 2011 MotoGP season with a record lap in the very brief period of dry running that Italian Grand Prix qualifying allowed
The whole field came out on slicks on a drying track as soon as the session began, and by the halfway mark conditions were good enough for Honda rider Stoner to put in a 1m48.034s - narrowly beating Jorge Lorenzo's practice mark to become the fastest ever MotoGP lap of Mugello.
Shortly afterwards, the rain returned, starting as a persistent drizzle before getting harder, and that prevented anyone from improving. Indeed before a handful of riders emerged to try out the now fully wet track in the last five minutes, the circuit was completely empty for a long period.
Ben Spies followed up his Assen win by taking second for Yamaha, while Marco Simoncelli's third place on the Gresini Honda ended a string of five straight grands prix in which he had started first or second.
A frustrated Lorenzo did not manage to get a perfect lap in between the rainfall so ended up fifth, behind Honda's Andrea Dovizioso, and ahead of Tech 3 Yamaha's Colin Edwards and Cal Crutchlow.
Dani Pedrosa took ninth on his return for Honda after three races on the sidelines.
Seven-time Mugello MotoGP winner Valentino Rossi might have hoped his first appearance at his home race on an Italian bike would have been a joyful occasion, but his very tough campaign on the Ducati continued.
He will start way down in 12th - his GP11.1 outqualified not only by factory team-mate Nicky Hayden, but by the customer Ducatis of Hector Barbera and Karel Abraham.
Pos Rider Team/Bike Time Gap 1. Casey Stoner Honda 1m48.034s 2. Ben Spies Yamaha 1m48.479s + 0.445s 3. Marco Simoncelli Gresini Honda 1m48.485s + 0.451s 4. Andrea Dovizioso Honda 1m48.694s + 0.660s 5. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m48.756s + 0.722s 6. Colin Edwards Tech 3 Yamaha 1m48.974s + 0.940s 7. Cal Crutchlow Tech 3 Yamaha 1m49.021s + 0.987s 8. Dani Pedrosa Honda 1m49.398s + 1.364s 9. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1m49.509s + 1.475s 10. Hector Barbera Aspar Ducati 1m49.663s + 1.629s 11. Karel Abraham Cardion Ducati 1m49.678s + 1.644s 12. Valentino Rossi Ducati 1m49.902s + 1.868s 13. Hiroshi Aoyama Gresini Honda 1m50.156s + 2.122s 14. Alvaro Bautista Suzuki 1m50.460s + 2.426s 15. Randy de Puniet Pramac Ducati 1m50.651s + 2.617s 16. Toni Elias LCR Honda 1m50.742s + 2.708s
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