Misano MotoGP: Lorenzo secures first pole of the season

Jorge Lorenzo scored his first pole of the season at Misano today and with it came a visible surge of confidence.

Despite his fastest lap of 1’33.328 being only 0.051 seconds ahead of the Ducati ridden by Pramac man Iannone, he was in ebullient spirits and set his sights firmly on a race win on Sunday,

‘The important thing is tomorrow’ he spoke after the race, ‘that’s when we get the points so we have to try to lead the race and we have to try to win’.

His promise of points for the Japanese team comes from a position of strength, as he and the Pramac Ducati of Iannone will be joined by Lorenzo’s Yamaha teammate Valentino Rossi, who – despite being the fastest in practice – couldn’t quite get the jump and came home just shy of a tenth behind his stablemate.

Championship leader Marc Marquez struggled with his Honda, the setup of which he says he ‘sacrificed a little to try to understand things for tomorrow’, and could only manage fourth; the first time he has falied to qualify for the front row this season.

Elsewhere on the grid a visibly furious Crutchlow suffered  traction control issues which saw him forced out of qualifying after the first phase and having to settle with thirtenth.