Stoner ends pole drought at Aragon

The Australian Ducati rider duelled with Spanish home hero Honda man Dani Pedrosa for the top spot for most of the session, but prevailed with the only lap of the weekend below 1m49s, giving Stoner his first pole since the season opener in Qatar five months ago.

The session burst into life during the final five minutes as Stoner knocked Pedrosa off the top of the timesheet with a 1m49.152s lap, before improving to 1m48.942s on his final run with two minutes left to run.

"We've had plenty of other weekends where everything's gone reasonably well leading up to the race," said Stoner, who is still searching for his first win of 2010. "I'm a little bit happier with the bike this weekend. We've changed my riding position and the weight distribution and got a bit more grip out of it.

"The rear of the bike is a little bit more stable, the front a little bit more nervous, but I feel pretty confident with the bike."

Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) leapt up into second spot with a late run. He complained of dropping straightline speed and acceleration to the Ducatis and Hondas.

Pedrosa was two tenths up on Stoner on his final lap of the session, but braked too late and ran off the road at a blind-entry left-hander and missed out on snatching pole. The Spaniard will line up third for tomorrow's race.

"Third position is not so bad," said Pedrosa. "The front row is very important because the first corner is very close. I hope to do a great start and a great race tomorrow."

Stoner's Ducati team-mate Nicky Hayden took fourth, ahead of American Ben Spies (Tech 3 Yamaha) and Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda).

Valentino Rossi continued to struggle with his shoulder injury, which causes him pain under braking. 'The Doctor' made a late improvement to seventh after a host of set-up changes to his Yamaha during the session.

Andrea Dovizioso (Honda), Marco Simoncelli (Gresini Honda) and Hector Barbara (Aspar Ducati) rounded out the top 10.

Pos  Rider             Team               Time       Gap
 1.  Casey Stoner      Ducati             1m48.942s
 2.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha             1m49.251s  + 0.309s
 3.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda              1m49.343s  + 0.401s
 4.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati             1m49.506s  + 0.564s
 5.  Ben Spies         Tech 3 Yamaha      1m49.565s  + 0.623s
 6.  Randy de Puniet   LCR Honda          1m49.952s  + 1.010s
 7.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha             1m50.017s  + 1.075s
 8.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda              1m50.046s  + 1.104s
 9.  Marco Simoncelli  Gresini Honda      1m50.088s  + 1.146s
10.  Hector Barbera    Aspar Ducati       1m50.323s  + 1.381s
11.  Colin Edwards     Tech 3 Yamaha      1m50.440s  + 1.498s
12.  Alvaro Bautista   Suzuki             1m50.523s  + 1.581s
13.  Aleix Espargaro   Pramac Ducati      1m50.537s  + 1.595s
14.  Marco Melandri    Gresini Honda      1m50.580s  + 1.638s
15.  Hiroshi Aoyama    Interwetten Honda  1m50.836s  + 1.894s
16.  Mika Kallio       Pramac Ducati      1m51.490s  + 2.548s