Lorenzo claims third consecutive pole

The Fiat Yamaha rider also managed to destroy the Estoril track record - set in 2006 with a 990cc Yamaha ridden by now-teammate Valentino Rossi - by almost half a second with a lap time of 1:35.715 with three minutes of the one-hour session to go.

The Spaniard had already managed to break the lap record with ten minutes to go, despite losing three tenths in the second sector when he found Chris Vermeulen running slowly on the racing line with his Rizla Suzuki.

Championship leader Dani Pedrosa snatched second with his Repsol Honda, 0.233 seconds behind compatriot and arch-rival Lorenzo, in the closing seconds of the session, pushing Rossi to third, almost half a second behind pole.

Pedrosa's teammate Nicky Hayden qualified fourth, ahead of Tech 3 Yamaha's Colin Edwards, who held the fastest lap with 20 minutes of the session to go. Edwards's teammate James Toseland completes the second row of the grid.

JiR Team Scot Honda's Andrea Dovizioso was seventh-fastest followed by LCR Honda's Randy de Puniet. Suzuki's John Hopkins qualified tenth behind reigning champion Casey Stoner with Ducati Marlboro.

It was a bad day for the Italian manufacturer, whose other works bike qualified 17th with Marco Melandri, while the two Alice customer Desmosedicis will start from 14th spot with Toni Elias and 18th with Sylvain Guintoli. The latter crashed seven minutes into the session and had to walk back to the pits.

Loris Capirossi also crashed with 15 minutes to go, with his Suzuki being heavily damaged.

Pos  Rider             Bike           Time
 1.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha    (M)  1:35.715
 2.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda     (M)  1:35.948  + 0.233
 3.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha    (B)  1:36.199  + 0.484
 4.  Nicky Hayden      Honda     (M)  1:36.266  + 0.551
 5.  Colin Edwards     Yamaha    (M)  1:36.289  + 0.574
 6.  James Toseland    Yamaha    (M)  1:36.790  + 1.075
 7.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda     (M)  1:36.998  + 1.283
 8.  Randy de Puniet   Honda     (M)  1:37.223  + 1.508
 9.  Casey Stoner      Ducati    (B)  1:37.253  + 1.538
10.  John Hopkins      Kawasaki  (B)  1:37.346  + 1.631
11.  Shinya Nakano     Honda     (B)  1:37.664  + 1.949
12.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki    (B)  1:37.786  + 2.071
13.  Chris Vermeulen   Suzuki    (B)  1:37.843  + 2.128
14.  Toni Elias        Ducati    (B)  1:38.561  + 2.846
15.  Anthony West      Kawasaki  (B)  1:38.775  + 3.060
16.  Alex de Angelis   Honda     (B)  1:38.823  + 3.108
17.  Marco Melandri    Ducati    (B)  1:39.115  + 3.400
18.  Sylvain Guintoli  Ducati    (B)  1:39.355  + 3.640