SACHSENRING (Germany), July 16: MotoGP championship leader Casey Stoner led a works Honda one-two to take pole position for the German Grand Prix on Saturday.
The Australian beat Spanish team-mate Dani Pedrosa by 0.252 seconds at the Sachsenring circuit with Spain’s world champion Jorge Lorenzo completing the front row of the grid for Yamaha.
Stoner’s pole, with a best time of one minute 21.681 seconds, was his sixth of the season.
Italian Marco Simoncelli, who had been quickest in practice, qualified fourth on his Gresini Honda followed by Yamaha’s American Ben Spies and Honda’s Italian Andrea Divizioso.
Italy’s Valentino Rossi, a nine times world champion in all categories, endured his worst qualifying performance of the season in 16th place for Ducati out of 17 riders.
France’s Sylvain Giuntoli, standing in for injured Italian veteran Loris Capirossi, was the only man beaten by Rossi in the qualifying session.
Qualification results:MotoGP: 1. Casey Stoner (Australia) Honda 1min 21.681secs; 2. Dani Pedrosa (Spain) Honda 1:21.933; 3. Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha 1:21.944; 4. Marco Simoncelli (Italy) Honda 1:21.954; 5. Ben Spies (US) Yamaha 1:22.056; 6. Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Honda 1:22.157; 7. Colin Edwards (US) Yamaha 1:22.368; 8. Nicky Hayden (US) Ducati 1:22.388; 9. Randy de Puniet (France) Ducati 1:22.503; 10. Alvaro Bautista (Spain) Suzuki 1:22.604.
Moto2: 1. Marc Marquez (Spain) Suter 1mins 24.733secs; 2. Stefan Bradl (Germany) Kalex 1:24.862; 3. Aleix Espargaro (Spain) Pons Kalex 1:24.900; 4. Michele Pirro (Italy) Moriwaki 1:25.085; 5. Julian Simon (Spain) Suter 1:25.189; 6. Alex de Angelis (San Marino) Motobi 1:25.223; 7. Xavier Simeon (Belgium) Tech 3 1:25.235; 8. Mika Kallio (Finland) Suter 1:25.271; 9. Bradley Smith (Britain) Tech 3 1:25.304; 10. Yonny Hernandez (Colombia) FTR 1:25.310.
125cc: 1. Maverick Vinales (Spain) Aprilia 1min 27.477secs; 2. Hector Faubel (Spain) Aprilia 1:27.808; 3. Luis Salom (Spain) Aprilia 1:27.865; 4. Nicolas Terol (Spain) Aprilia 1:27.992; 5. Sergio Gadea (Spain) Aprilia 1:28.067; 6. Johann Zarco (France) Derbi 1:28.178; 7. Efren Vazquez (Spain) Derbi 1:28.316; 8. Alberto Moncayo (Spain) Aprilia 1:28.344; 9. Jonas Folger (Germany) Aprilia 1:28.390; 10. Danny Kent (Britain) Aprilia 1:28.626.—Reuters