Lorenzo smashes lap record for Valencia pole

Jorge Lorenzo has smashed the lap record at Valencia to take pole position for tomorrow’s final race of the 2015 MotoGP season, finishing half a second head of Marc Marquez and beating the Repsol Honda rider’s existing lap record by 0.2 seconds.

And despite a series of fast sectors from both Dani Pedrosa and Marquez in the final minutes of the session, neither rider was able to make an impression on the pace set by Lorenzo.

Aleix Espargaro was a surprise leader of the second row after coming through from Q1, leading off the British duo of Cal Crutchlow and Bradley Smith.

However, it was an ignominious session for Valentino Rossi, suffering only his third crash of the season while on his fastest lap of the day, sliding off uninjured. However, his final place becomes irrelevant as he moves to the back of the grid for tomorrow’s race.