Casey Stoner surges to last-gasp Assen pole amid rain showers

In the closing minutes it looked like Stoner was destined to start only ninth on a grid headed by Pedrosa, as the track appeared set to remain wet until the chequered flag. But then the sun came out, quick times turned out to be possible after all, and Stoner delivered a stunning 1m33.713s lap to take pole as Pedrosa pushed their title rival Jorge Lorenzo's Yamaha back to third.

The changing weather was the main theme of the hour. With clouds gathering, everyone was keen to get an early fast lap in - as championship leader Lorenzo proved when he set his best time of the weekend, a 1m34.564s, just five minutes in. The Yamaha rider then improved to a 1m34.376s, which was beaten five minutes later by Pedrosa's 1m34.286s.

Rain arrived shortly afterwards, and although the track was never fully wet, it was enough to preclude quick times for a long while. When the first shower passed, Ben Spies and Alvaro Bautista managed to throw in quick laps that moved them into the top five but then the rain returned once more.

It looked like the session was settled, and at that stage Stoner had only put in a time good enough for ninth. But he was the first to take a chance on the track having dried again in the last four minutes, and he immediately jumped to third, before blitzing his rivals with a 1m33.713s next time around.

Pedrosa and Lorenzo were left to battle over second, with the Honda rider taking it by 0.173 seconds as he lapped 0.115s shy of Stoner's pace.

Moto2 champion Stefan Bradl claimed his best MotoGP qualifying position yet in fourth place for LCR Honda, ahead of Cal Crutchlow - who jumped up the order for Tech 3 Yamaha on his last lap.

Spies (Yamaha) fell back to sixth, with Crutchlow's team-mate Andrea Dovizioso seventh and Bautista (Gresini Honda) crashing at the end of the session and dropping to eighth.

The Ducatis of Nicky Hayden and Valentino Rossi filled the final top 10 spots, while Aspar duo Randy de Puniet and Aleix Espargaro led the CRT contingent again.

Pos  Rider             Team/Bike                 Time       Gap
 1.  Casey Stoner      Honda                     1m33.713s
 2.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda                     1m33.828s  + 0.115s
 3.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha                    1m34.001s  + 0.288s
 4.  Stefan Bradl      LCR Honda                 1m34.035s  + 0.322s
 5.  Cal Crutchlow     Tech 3 Yamaha             1m34.486s  + 0.773s
 6.  Ben Spies         Yamaha                    1m34.644s  + 0.931s
 7.  Andrea Dovizioso  Tech 3 Yamaha             1m34.698s  + 0.985s
 8.  Alvaro Bautista   Gresini Honda             1m34.722s  + 1.009s
 9.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati                    1m34.751s  + 1.038s
10.  Valentino Rossi   Ducati                    1m35.057s  + 1.344s
11.  Hector Barbera    Pramac Ducati             1m35.289s  + 1.576s
12.  Randy de Puniet   Aspar Aprilia             1m35.830s  + 2.117s
13.  Aleix Espargaro   Aspar Aprilia             1m36.007s  + 2.294s
14.  Michele Pirro     Gresini FTR-Honda         1m36.647s  + 2.934s
15.  Mattia Pasini     Speed Master Aprilia      1m36.943s  + 3.230s
16.  Danilo Petrucci   Ioda-Aprilia              1m36.967s  + 3.254s
17.  Karel Abraham     Cardion Ducati            1m37.110s  + 3.397s
18.  Yonny Hernandez   Avintia FTR-Kawasaki      1m37.191s  + 3.478s
19.  James Ellison     Paul Bird Aprilia         1m37.281s  + 3.568s
20.  Ivan Silva        Avintia Inmotec-Kawasaki  1m37.554s  + 3.841s
21.  Colin Edwards     Forward Suter-BMW         1m38.305s  + 4.592s