Jorge Lorenzo Puts Yamaha on the Pole at Misano

Larry Lawrence | September 13, 2014

Photography by Gold & Goose

Jorge Lorenzo gave Yamaha a tremendous morale boost when he scored the pole today for Sunday’s San Marino GP, round 13 of the 18-race MotoGP championship. It marked the first time this season that Lorenzo earned the pole. He will share the front row with Pramac Ducati’s Andrea Iannone and Yamaha teammate and Misano fan favorite Valentino Rossi. Sunshine returned to Misano after riders endured a rainy Friday.

In a surprise, for the first time this season the front row will be without a Honda. Repsol Honda factory riders Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa qualified on the second row in fourth and fifth. Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso will start sixth.

Friday’s fast man Dovizioso took out following right behind Lorenzo hoping to get a slipstream tow down the front straight and it worked, as Dovi opened the first flying lap fastest with a 1:33.511 on the factory Ducati. Lorenzo then upped the ante on the next lap with a 1:33.502, but that was P1 for only a few seconds as Marquez went to the top, completely on his own with a 1:33.435. That would prove to be the top time in the first segment of Q2.

With just over two minutes to going Andrea Iannone went to the top temporarily, but then it was Lorenzo again taking P1 just seconds later. On the closing lap Marquez was ripping on his Honda, but had a small slip in the final sector to keep him off the front row.

“From the beginning we’ve been competitive,” said Lorenzo, who earned his 30^th-career MotoGP pole. “Not like at Silverstone where we had so many difficulties. Here it has been easier and it seems like the Yamaha is working very well because Valentino is also going very fast. I pushed the limits as always in qualifying. The first try I pushed in both laps, but maybe I didn’t know the perfect lines for me to get the perfect lap. But in the second run I really pushed a lot also, even a little bit more. In T1 I made some mistakes in a few corners, I went a bit wide, so maybe I lose one or two tenths, but I made almost a perfect lap from T2 to T4, so I’m very proud of it. And finally I won the pole position after almost one year, so I’m really happy with that.”

The MotoGP race from Misano will air on Fox Sports 1 on Sunday morning at 8:00 am.

MotoGP Misano Qualifying Results – Sept. 13, 2014
1. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1) 1m 33.238s [Lap 6/8] 284km/h (Top Speed)
2. Andrea Iannone ITA Pramac Racing (Desmosedici) 1m 33.289s +0.051s [6/8] 283km/h
3. Valentino Rossi ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1) 1m 33.302s +0.064s [7/8] 283km/h
4. Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 1m 33.360s +0.122s [9/9] 284km/h
5. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 1m 33.418s +0.180s [7/8] 287km/h
6. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team (Desmosedici) 1m 33.439s +0.201s [6/7] 287km/h
7. Pol Espargaro ESP Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 1m 33.557s +0.319s [6/8] 285km/h
8. Aleix Espargaro ESP NGM Forward Racing (Forward Yamaha) 1m 33.713s +0.475s [6/7] 280km/h
9. Bradley Smith GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 1m 33.761s +0.523s [3/9] 286km/h
10. Stefan Bradl GER LCR Honda MotoGP (RC213V) 1m 33.995s +0.757s [3/6] 287km/h
11. Yonny Hernandez COL Pramac Racing (Desmosedici) 1m 34.283s +1.045s [5/7] 282km/h
12. Alvaro Bautista ESP Go&Fun Honda Gresini (RC213V) 1m 34.640s +1.402s [3/9] 284km/h
13. Cal Crutchlow GBR Ducati Team (Desmosedici) 1m 34.495s
14. Scott Redding GBR Go&Fun Honda Gresini (RCV1000R) 1m 34.919s
15. Hiroshi Aoyama JPN Drive M7 Aspar (RCV1000R) 1m 34.966s
16. Leon Camier GBR Drive M7 Aspar (RCV1000R) 1m 35.275s
17. Karel Abraham CZE Cardion AB Motoracing (RCV1000R) 1m 35.292s
18. Michael Laverty GBR Paul Bird Motorsport (PBM-ART) 1m 35.589s
19. Alex De Angelis RSM NGM Forward Racing (Forward Yamaha) 1m 35.679s
20. Broc Parkes AUS Paul Bird Motorsport (PBM-ART) 1m 36.317s
21. Hector Barbera ESP Avintia Racing (Avintia) 1m 36.689s
22. Mike Di Meglio FRA Avintia Racing (Avintia) 1m 42.497s
23. Danilo Petrucci ITA IodaRacing Project (ART) No Time