Pedrosa smashes lap record with stunning pole

Pedrosa put in a stunner

Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa has broken the lap record and was over half a second faster than his rivals as he stormed into pole position for tomorrow's GP of Catalunya. He clocked a lap of 1'40.893 on his 5th lap of 8, breaking the previous record of 1'41.186, recorded by Casey Stoner in 2008 when qualifying tires were still in use, by 0.293s. This is Dani's second and successive pole position of the season and it comes on the weekend of his 200th GP start. He becomes only the 19th rider to reach this milestone in the 65-year history of grand prix racing.

Tire choice will be crucial tomorrow as temperatures continue to rise. It is expected that the front tire option will be the hard compound but the rear tire is still not decided. The soft compound will lose grip quickly on the hot asphalt so riders may choose the hard compound for the first time this season.

Dani Pedrosa
“I am very happy, because we put in a great lap and took a great qualifying time. It was a fantastic pole position for me. We also broke the circuit record and were able to do so in front of the home fans. I am also happy about improving our race pace, as this is the most important thing. We hope to put on a good show tomorrow and take full advantage of the front row start"

Cal Crutchlow, 2nd, Time – 1.41.501, 8 laps
“I think we did a great job today and I am really happy to be back on the front row. It seems a while since I managed it at the first race in Qatar and at least I won’t be starting from fourth again. The conditions were really tricky with the incredibly high track temperature and it looks like it is going to be a big battle in the race tomorrow. I’ll be happy to get a good start and hang with Dani and Jorge because they are obviously going to be strong. Jorge had a few problems today and maybe without those he would have taken second off me. But there’s no doubt we deserve this front row and that’s a good reward for all the hard work done by my Monster Yamaha Tech 3 crew. Congratulations to Dani though because that was an incredible lap time in such tricky conditions."

Jorge Lorenzo, 3rd, Time – 1'41.566, 7 laps
“I’m very disappointed because today we had a problem with the clutch in a crucial moment and this lap time was the best I could do. I also had not so much confidence on the front to make a perfect lap. We hope for race distance we can remain constant and fight for the win. We will need to be strong and concentrate for the whole race; we don't know what can happen in the 20th lap."

Qualifying Results

Pos Rider Time Nat Bike Team
1 Dani Pedrosa 1'40.893 SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
2 Cal Crutchlow 1'41.501 GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
3 Jorge Lorenzo 1'41.566 SPA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
4 Alvaro Bautista 1'41.714 SPA HONDA Go & Fun Honda Gresini
5 Nicky Hayden 1'41.800 USA DUCATI Ducati Team
6 Marc Marquez 1'41.842 SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
7 Valentino Rossi 1'41.959 ITA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
8 Andrea Iannone 1'41.963 ITA DUCATI Energy T.I. Pramac Racing Team
9 Andrea Dovizioso 1'42.053 ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
10 Stefan Bradl 1'42.090 GER HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP
11 Bradley Smith 1'42.548 GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
12 Aleix Espargaro 1'42.878 SPA ART Power Electronics Aspar
13 Randy De Puniet 1'43.186 FRA ART Power Electronics Aspar
14 Michele Pirro 1'43.330 ITA DUCATI Ignite Pramac Racing Team
15 Hector Barbera 1'43.659 SPA FTR Avintia Blusens
16 Colin Edwards 1'43.983 USA FTR-KAWASAKI NGM Mobile Forward Racing
17 Karel Abraham 1'44.362 CZE ART Cardion AB Motoracing
18 Danilo Petrucci 1'44.369 ITA IODA-SUTER Came IodaRacing Project
19 Claudio Corti 1'44.603 ITA FTR-KAWASAKI NGM Mobile Forward Racing
20 Michael Laverty 1'44.630 GBR PBM Paul Bird Motorsport
21 Yonny Hernandez 1'44.913 COL PBM Paul Bird Motorsport
22 Bryan Staring 1'45.441 AUS FTR Go & Fun Honda Gresini
23 Lukas Pesek 1'46.302 CZE IODA-SUTER Came IodaRacing Project
24 Javier Del Amor 1'48.952 SPA FTR Avintia Blusens

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