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Jorge Lorenzo claims record Brno pole as Dani Pedrosa falls

Jorge Lorenzo claimed pole position for the Czech Grand Prix with a sensational qualifying performance

Title rival Dani Pedrosa's momentum meanwhile was disrupted by a fall, leaving him third.

Lorenzo had been edged out by Pedrosa in all three practice sessions, but five minutes into qualifying he had already posted a weekend best of 1m56.5s.

That was only the start of his run however. His next four laps were all under the 1m57s bracket, the Spaniard dropping down to a new outright track record of 1m56.144s.

For a while that signalled the end of any significant action, particularly as Pedrosa lost the front of his Honda coming out of Turn 9, and then struggled on his second frame.

In the final minutes however Lorenzo's control became dominance, as he smashed his previous best with a 1m55.799s.

That initially put him six tenths clear of the field, and with Pedrosa struggling for rhythm it appeared Yamaha could claim a front-row lockout.

That appeared even more likely when, with two minutes to run, Cal Crutchlow (Tech 3) matched Lorenzo in the first three sectors before eventually finishing 0.196s down. Crutchlow had earlier fallen at the session's halfway point.

Ben Spies followed him home in third, but as the flag flew Pedrosa sneaked ahead to secure the outside slot of the front row.

Spies will line up fourth ahead of Tech 3's Andrea Dovizioso and Ducati's Valentino Rossi, both of whom finished within one second of the pole time.

Pos  Rider             Team/Bike                 Time       Gap
 1.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha                    1m55.799s
 2.  Cal Crutchlow     Tech 3 Yamaha             1m55.995s  + 0.196s
 3.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda                     1m56.327s  + 0.528s
 4.  Ben Spies         Yamaha                    1m56.331s  + 0.532s
 5.  Andrea Dovizioso  Tech 3 Yamaha             1m56.559s  + 0.760s
 6.  Valentino Rossi   Ducati                    1m56.735s  + 0.936s
 7.  Stefan Bradl      LCR Honda                 1m56.827s  + 1.028s
 8.  Alvaro Bautista   Gresini Honda             1m57.068s  + 1.269s
 9.  Karel Abraham     Cardion Ducati            1m57.773s  + 1.974s
10.  Randy de Puniet   Aspar Aprilia             1m57.844s  + 2.045s
11.  Aleix Espargaro   Aspar Aprilia             1m58.153s  + 2.354s
12.  Yonny Hernandez   Avintia FTR-Kawasaki      1m59.087s  + 3.288s
13.  Toni Elias        Pramac Ducati             1m59.120s  + 3.321s
14.  Michele Pirro     Gresini FTR-Honda         1m59.387s  + 3.588s
15.  Colin Edwards     Forward Suter-BMW         1m59.863s  + 4.064s
16.  Mattia Pasini     Speed Master Aprilia      1m59.865s  + 4.066s
17.  James Ellison     Paul Bird Aprilia         2m00.316s  + 4.517s
18.  Ivan Silva        Avintia Inmotec-Kawasaki  2m00.329s  + 4.530s
19.  Danilo Petrucci   Ioda Aprilia              2m00.854s  + 5.055s

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