Lorenzo on pole as qualifying called off
Jorge Lorenzo will start from pole position in the Portuguese Grand Prix after qualifying was cancelled due to heavy rain at Estoril
Conditions have been poor throughout the weekend and worsened again before qualifying, leaving large patches of standing water on the track.
After checking the state of the circuit with the safety car, the organisers made a final decision to abandon qualifying 30 minutes after the scheduled start time.
The grid has therefore been set on practice times, and with Lorenzo having topped both of the sessions where the weather was reasonable enough for riders to participate properly, the world champion finds himself on pole for Yamaha, despite a heavy crash this morning.
Nicky Hayden's second place on Friday afternoon means he equals the best starting position of his Ducati career in second, ahead of Valentino Rossi on the other Yamaha.
Casey Stoner is fourth with the second Ducati, followed by Tech 3 Yamaha's Ben Spies in fifth on his Estoril debut.
Marco Melandri will be sixth, his highest grid position of his final MotoGP year with Gresini Honda.
The works Hondas of Andrea Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa are only seventh and 12th, although Pedrosa showed better form this morning as he continues to recover from his collarbone injury.
Returnee Carlos Checa (Pramac Ducati) will start from the tail of the field for his first MotoGP race since 2007.
Pos Rider Team Time Gap 1. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m48.853s 2. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1m49.435s + 0.582s 3. Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1m50.007s + 1.154s 4. Casey Stoner Ducati 1m50.081s + 1.228s 5. Ben Spies Tech 3 Yamaha 1m50.313s + 1.460s 6. Marco Melandri Gresini Honda 1m50.500s + 1.647s 7. Andrea Dovizioso Honda 1m50.787s + 1.934s 8. Randy de Puniet LCR Honda 1m50.824s + 1.971s 9. Colin Edwards Tech 3 Yamaha 1m51.250s + 2.397s 10. Marco Simoncelli Gresini Honda 1m51.518s + 2.665s 11. Aleix Espargaro Pramac Ducati 1m51.916s + 3.063s 12. Dani Pedrosa Honda 1m52.734s + 3.881s 13. Loris Capirossi Suzuki 1m53.018s + 4.165s 14. Alvaro Bautista Suzuki 1m53.317s + 4.464s 15. Hector Barbera Aspar Ducati 1m53.537s + 4.684s 16. Hiroshi Aoyama Interwetten Honda 1m53.933s + 5.080s 17. Carlos Checa Pramac Ducati 1m54.073s + 5.220s
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