BRNO (Czech Republic), Aug 25: World championship leader Jorge Lorenzo claimed his fourth pole position of the season in Saturday’s qualifying for the Czech Grand Prix.

The Spanish Yamaha rider secured top spot in Sunday’s race by covering the 5.403-meter (3.358-mile) Brno circuit in 1 minute, 55.799 seconds for a new track record.

“Very good feeling,” Lorenzo said. “We’re ready for tomorrow.”

Cal Crutchlow of Britain, who has extended his contract with Monster Yamaha Tech 3 by a year, was 0.196 seconds behind in second for his career best qualifying result.

Dani Pedrosa, who dominated all three practice sessions on his Honda, crashed in early stages of qualifying and will start Sunday’s race in third after finishing 0.528 seconds off the pace in his final lap.

Lorenzo leads overall with 225 points, followed by Pedrosa with 207 and defending champion Casey Stoner on 186. Stoner misses the race due to an ankle injury.

Qualifying results: 1. Jorge Lorenzo (ESP/Yamaha) 1min 55.799sec, 2. Cal Crutchlow (GBR/Yamaha) at 0.196s, 3. Dani Pedrosa (ESP/Honda) 0.528, 4. Ben Spies (USA/Yamaha) 0.532, 5. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA/Yamaha) 0.760, 6. Valentino Rossi (ITA/Ducati) 0.936, 7. Stefan Bradl (GER/Honda) 1.028, 8. Alvaro Bautista (ESP/Honda) 1.269, 9. Karel Abraham (CZE/Ducati) 1.974, 10. Randy de Puniet (FRA/ART) 2.045, 11. Aleix Espargaro (ESP/ART) 2.354, 12. Yonny Hernandez (COL/BQR) 3.288, 13. Toni Elias (ESP/Ducati) 3.321, 14.

Michele Pirro (ITA/FTR) 3.588, 15. Colin Edwards (USA/Suter) 4.064, 16. Mattia Pasini (ITA/ART) 4.066, 17. James Ellison (GBR/ART) 4.517, 18. Ivan Silva (ESP/BQR) 4.530, 19. Danilo Petrucci (ITA/Ioda) 5.055.—Agencies