Pole and record for Pedrosa

  Sunday’s MotoGP™ race at the Gran Premi Aperol de Catalunya will commence with Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa on pole following an exciting qualifying session on Saturday afternoon. Also on the front row, for what promises to be a superb race, are Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Cal Crutchlow and Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo. Pedrosa is in impressive form on his 200th Grand Prix weekend and his pole time of 1'40.893 is the best ever lap of Catalunya. Slotting themselves in on the front row and also looking to get away from the chasing pack tomorrow are Crutchlow and Lorenzo, with the pair trailing pole-man Pedrosa by 0.608s and 0.673s respectively. Lorenzo overcame an early clutch problem, swapping bikes to make the front row. From the second row, GO&FUN Honda Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista, who had his best qualifying of the year, Ducati’s Nicky Hayden and Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez will also be hoping to mount podium challenges, having all qualified within a second of pole. From row three, the Italian trio of Yamaha Factory Racing’s Valentino Rossi, Energy T.I. Pramac Racing’s Andrea Iannone and Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso will all aim to make their final improvements in Warm Up on Sunday morning in order to be able to challenge the leading six on the grid. Iannone impressed in eighth having made it through from Q1 with Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Bradley Smith who qualified 11th, sandwiched by 10th placed LCR Honda rider Stefan Bradl and 12th placed Power Electronics Aspar man Aleix Espargaro – the only CRT rider to make Q2. The scorching heat at the Circuit de Catalunya – track temperatures reached 57°C during qualifying – is forecast to continue on Sunday, meaning that tyre tactics will be as important as ever for the sixth race of the season. Many riders remain undecided, whilst Ducati pair Hayden and Dovizioso have already ruled out the harder option.