MotoGP: Jorge Lorenzo Shatters Lap Record to Earn Pole for Valencia GP

Photo by Gold & Goose

Jorge Lorenzo looked fantastic Saturday in qualifying at Valencia and put his factory Yamaha on the pole in the final MotoGP of the season by shattering his own motorcycle lap record on the Spanish circuit by clocking a 1:29.401. The record lap served notice that the rider departing Yamaha for Ducati, still has the goods even though he hasn’t won a race since May.

Joining Lorenzo on the front row is newly-crowned 2016 MotoGP Champion Marc Marquez on the Honda and Valentino Rossi on the other factory Yamaha.

The Q2 session came down to a last-minute duel between Lorenzo and Marquez. With the clock winding down Lorenzo clocked his lap record time, but Marquez still had his lap to complete and looked at first to be on pace to perhaps eclipse the pole time, but in the final segments of the track he made a slight error that cost him time and he gave up the chase. He had to be consoled with the fact that he was the only other rider to dip into the 1:29 bracket.

For Lorenzo, the pole was especially sweet since it was his last weekend with Yamaha. It marked his fourth pole of the season.

“It was amazing, amazing and impressive,” Lorenzo smiled when asked about his record lap. “But not only me you know; all the riders are impressively fast in the qualifying. I don’t know where we found the force to go so fast, but finally, in final qualifying, everyone put in some extra. To go 29.4 is amazing. I improved two-tenths (of a second) every time I put on a new tire. Today is one of those days you feel inspired and you can go into your limits.”

Maverick Viñales (Team Suzuki Ecstar) heads the second row in his final run with Suzuki, ahead of Sepang winner Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) and Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Pol Espargaro in his final appearance for the Tech 3 squad.

The MotoGP season finale kicks off at 8:00am Eastern on Sunday. It is televised on beIN Sports or you can watch online via subscription at MotoGP.com.

GRAN PREMIO MOTUL DE LA COMUNITAT VALENCIANA

MotoGP Qualifying Nr. 2 Classification

Cheste, Spain, Saturday, November 12, 2016