Jorge Lorenzo took pole position for MotoGP's title-deciding Valencia
Grand Prix by nearly half a second, while title rival Valentino Rossi
crashed at the end of qualifying.
Regardless of where he
qualified, championship leader Rossi was guaranteed a back-of-the-grid
start due to the penalty triggered by his clash with Marc Marquez at
Sepang.
Rossi initially appeared not to be pushing in Q2 and sat
down in 12th, but then had a low-side fall at turn eight on his final
lap.
Meanwhile Lorenzo, who has to overhaul a seven-point deficit
to Rossi in Sunday's race, produced a record 1m30.011s lap to beat
Marquez to pole by 0.488s.
Marquez did his utmost to respond, but
his ragged final lap was not an improvement. Dani Pedrosa completes the
front row on the second Honda.
Aleix Espargaro came through from
Q1 and then thrust the lead Suzuki to fourth on the grid ahead of
British duo Cal Crutchlow and Bradley Smith.
Despite Andrea
Iannone's practice pace, Ducati had to settle for seventh and ninth with
the young Italian and his team-mate Andrea Dovizioso, split by Pol
Espargaro.
Maverick Vinales was only 11th behind Danilo Petrucci
on the second Suzuki, but that was a remarkable achievement after a
violent Q1 crash for the Spaniard.
Vinales had landed heavily on
his back, and was nearly hit by Nicky Hayden - who produced a masterful
avoidance manoeuvre to unsure he did not run over the rookie sliding
across the track.
Yet within moments of landing, Vinales was
running back to get his spare bike, and he duly went second to team-mate
Espargaro in Q1 and earned a place in the pole shootout.
Ducati's
additional runner, Michele Pirro, had to settle for 13th, just ahead of
Stefan Bradl's Aprilia and Open class title combatants Hector Barbera
and Loris Baz.
Hayden was 17th in his final MotoGP qualifying
session, putting his Aspar Racing Honda three places ahead of the
works-spec version of the struggling Scott Redding, whose last race
weekend with Marc VDS is proving miserable so far.
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