Le Mans MotoGP: Stoner takes pole position

Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda Team) continued his run of consistently fast laps at Le Mans to take pole position in qualifying, finishing the session 0.059s ahead of Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini) who secured second with a flying lap in the last two minutes of the session. Repsol Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso completes the all-Honda front row, taking third in the last lap to start from the front row.

Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) and Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing) qualified fourth and fifth respectively; both riders will start tomorrow’s race from behind the front row for the first time this season.

Cal Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) completes the second row in sixth place, with the British rider putting in a very strong performance in the hotly contested qualifying session. Having never ridden the French circuit before, Crutchlow lapped 0.259s faster than Texan team mate Colin Edwards who will start from seventh.

Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing) and Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) qualified in eighth and ninth place with identical lap times. Spies was awarded eighth position as his second fastest lap was quicker than Rossi’s.

French rider Randy De Puniet crashed his Pramac Racing Ducati early in the session, with a highside at turn twelve, but was able to qualify in eleventh place, just behind factory Ducati Team rider Nicky Hayden who will start from tenth.

1 Casey Stoner AUS Repsol Honda Team 1m 33.153s 
2 Marco Simoncelli ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m 33.212s
3 Andrea Dovizioso ITA Repsol Honda Team 1m 33.621s
4 Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda Team 1m 33.683s
5 Jorge Lorenzo SPA Yamaha Factory Racing 1m 33.706s
6 Cal Crutchlow GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1m 33.804s
7 Colin Edwards USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1m 34.063s
8 Ben Spies USA Yamaha Factory Racing 1m 34.206s
9 Valentino Rossi ITA Ducati Team 1m 34.206s
10 Nicky Hayden USA Ducati Team 1m 34.277s
11 Randy De Puniet FRA Pramac Racing Team 1m 34.351s
12 Alvaro Bautista SPA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1m 34.513s
13 Hiroshi Aoyama JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m 34.612s
14 Hector Barbera SPA Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP 1m 34.650s
15 Loris Capirossi ITA Pramac Racing Team 1m 34.866s
16 Karel Abraham CZE Cardion AB Motoracing 1m 35.010s
17 Toni Elias SPA LCR Honda MotoGP 1m 35.433s