Jorge Lorenzo takes his sixth pole of the MotoGP season at Motegi

The MotoGP World Championship has contested the pole position at the Motegi Circuit, where we have seen plenty of action from several riders. Not only the big favourites have shown their colours, but Cal Crutchlow, Ben Spies and Álvaro Bautista have also been very strong.

The session began with Jorge Lorenzo setting fastest lap after fastest lap, lowering his times on every lap and dominating. In an intense battle with Álvaro Bautista, the Talavera de la Reina rider led the way, making things difficult for his rivals and looking good, but then Ben Spies joined the party with a very interesting time, and a little later Cal Crutchlow took over the top spot.

But the most interesting part came in the last 10 minutes, when Spies, Crutchlow, Pedrosa and Lorenzo all began the dance for pole. In the end it was a fight between our own, between the favourites, between Lorenzo and Pedrosa, between the leaders. Without doubt the men in the best form of the Championship, with Spies also putting up a strong fight but crashing in the final part of the session, while Crutchlow also had a good scare when he pushed hard to get the pole time.

A session of the utmost excitement in its final part, with a spectacular Pedrosa in the fourth sector. On this occasion, however, Lorenzo completed every sector in masterful fashion, beating his main rival by 0.246s, a margin of 26 thousandths of a second… in other words, 0.246s.

Both posted superb laps, but also showed strong race pace. However, the only rider able to dip under 1:44 was the 99, so everything seems to point to a battle between the two in tomorrow’s race. Completing the top 10 in qualifying: Crutchlow 3rd, Spies 4th, Bautista 5th, Dovizioso 6th, Stoner 7th, Bradl 8th, Rossi 9th and Hayden 10th.

Completing the grid: 11th Nakasuga, 12th Barberá, 13th Espargaró, 14th De Puniet, 15th Abraham, 16th Edwards, 17th Hernández, 18th Pirro, 19th Petrucci, 20th Ellison, 21st Rolfo, 22nd Silva. The best CRT rider was Aleix, so a new win for the fastest man in this sub-championship, and CRT pole-sitter.

In terms of crashes we had several involving Bradl, Ellison and Abraham, plus track exits from Espargaró and Rossi, among others.

Tomorrow brings the real action, the race, with many riders and plenty of fighting at Motegi.

Photo | MotoGP Official website