Jorge Lorenzo destroyed his own Valencia pole position record to see off Marc Marquez in a thrilling qualifying session at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit. Lorenzo and Marquez were in a class of their own as both went faster than anyone had gone before around the Spanish circuit with third-placed Valentino Rossi over seven tenths adrift in third.
Marquez had been the pacesetter in Saturday practice while Lorenzo focused on race preparation and the Movistar Yamaha laid down a sensational early marker with a 1:29.849 straight out of the blocks, already the fastest ever lap of Valencia. Marquez slotted into second, albeit four tenths back, and the gap to pole position grew still further when Jorge clocked a 1:29.613 on run two.
Around such a short circuit, riders had the option of three runs in the fifteen minute Q2 session and Lorenzo made full use of that, setting a 1:29.401 on his third flying lap of the afternoon to move pole position way out of reach. Marquez joined him in the 1:29s but second was the maximum he could achieve while Rossi had to make do with third on a 1:30.128.
Maverick Vinales will start his last race for Suzuki from fourth on the grid with Andrea Dovizioso and Pol Espargaro joining him on the second row while Andrea Iannone heads row three, just in front of Dani Pedrosa and Aleix Espargaro.
British pair Bradley Smith and Cal Crutchlow will start tenth and eleventh although the latter was left frustrated by a crash late in Q2 at the high-speed turn ten.
2016 Gran Premio Motul de la Comunitat Valenciana (Qualifying Classification)
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