Another superb qualifying session from Jorge Lorenzo today means that the Fiat Yamaha Team rider will launch his Assen assault from pole position tomorrow, as he bids to take his first premier-class win in Holland.
An inch-perfect final lap from the Mallorcan saw him qualify 0.282 seconds ahead of Randy de Puniet, with Casey Stoner filling the final front-row spot and Yamaha Tech 3 rider Ben Spies taking fourth, his best MotoGP qualifying position to date.
Lorenzo was the only rider to dip into the 1'34s this morning and was the first to do so again this afternoon as he set about refining the set-up of his M1 around the elegant twists and turns of the historic track. He surrendered the top spot to de Puniet for a short while but with ten minutes to go he moved back into pole position and remained in command to the end, extending his lead with a brilliant final lap to secure his second pole of the season for the 80th Dutch TT tomorrow.
"I'm very happy to take my second pole of the season but I feel even more comfortable and confident because I've been first in all three practice sessions, despite the other riders pushing hard during qualifying," Lorenzo said.
"I think tomorrow's race could be interesting and of course I want to try to win, but as always the main goal is to finish and take points. I will try to escape but if I can't I will fight for the podium. We can afford to be very calm because of our lead in the standings but the team and I are still working as hard as we can to keep going at this level; we're not relaxing," Lorenzo concluded.
Honda privateer Randy de Puniet continued his impressive qualifying form by taking the second spot on the front row for the second race in succession.
‰ÛÏEverything is going in the right direction for us and we completely deserved this second consecutive front row. I am still the Honda fastest rider and the top privateer rider in the
classification, so this is not just luck!" the LCR Honda rider said.
"The guys made an excellent job on the bike and I felt more comfortable in this morning second session. Then in the afternoon we took another step forward working on suspension set-up and the bike was close to perfection. We have got the pace to run in top five on race tyres, but we need to confirm our mapping for the end of the race when the tyres will drop. Want to thank everybody in the team for their great job.‰Û
