Jorge Lorenzo was able to continue his dominance of the 2015 San Marino Grand Prix weekend, taking his third pole position of the season ahead of Marc Marquez and Valentino Rossi.
The Movistar Yamaha rider’s best time was a 1:32.146, which surpassed Marquez’ 2013 pole record of the recently resurfaced Misano World Circuit Marco Simonccelli by almost 0.8 seconds. He used a two-stop strategy in order to put in three runs on fresh tyres, and his best time was set on the second run. He looked set to record a 1:31 in his final stint, until team-mate Rossi hampered his chances by riding slowly ahead of him.
Repsol Honda‘s Marc Marquez looked to be the main threat to Lorenzo’s pace, having also had a near-perfect weekend so far. However, he was unable to set a time any faster than 0.106s behind his compatriot.
A one-stop strategy was adopted by Valentino Rossi in Q2, but it worked well for the Movistar Yamaha rider, who improved upon his practice pace by over four-tenths. Just 0.212s behind his team-mate, he will start from third at this home Grand Prix tomorrow.
Dani Pedrosa will lead the second row with a time 0.288s down on the leader. Despite a crash in FP4, Ducati Team‘s test rider Michele Pirro will begin the race from fifth, as the top Ducati. His team-mates, Andrea Iannone and Andrea Dovizioso, start from seventh and eighth respectively.
Between the Ducatis is the leading satellite rider, Bradley Smith. The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider set a time 0.655s off the pace to start sixth.
It was Aleix Espargaro and Cal Crutchlow who moved up from Q1, and they will start from 10th and 11th, behind Danilo Petrucci in ninth.