Casey Stoner produced a stunning late lap to take his 10th pole position of the season in Japan.
Jorge Lorenzo looked set to start Sunday’s race from the front until Stoner clocked a lap of one minute 45.267 seconds.
Lorenzo will start in second ahead of Stoner’s Repsol Honda team-mate Andrea Dovizioso, with Dani Pedrosa in fourth.
Stoner holds a 44-point lead at the top of the standings going into the final four races of the season.
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MotoGP: Japanese Grand Prix - Race Line Up
MotoGP: Casey Stoner Fastest in First Practice at Motegi
MotoGP: Japanese Grand Prix - First Practice Results
MotoGP: Dani Pedrosa Fastest in Second Practice at Motegi
MotoGP: Japanese Grand Prix - Second Practice Results
MotoGP: Casey Stoner Fastest in Final Practice at Motegi
MotoGP: Japanese Grand Prix - Final Practice Results
Stoner said: “Everything has gone very well so far this weekend. We’ve been fastest in all but one session so it’s been fantastic.
“Jorge has been riding fantastic, as has Dovi and Dani, but there is no doubt that the Honda suits this track.” BBC Sport
“I’ve been looking forward to riding it here for a while now and I’m not disappointed. Tomorrow will be a tough race, but the team is working hard and we’ll do our best.”
Pedrosa was disappointed to be knocked down to fourth after having led earlier in the session.
He said: “At the end, when I switched to soft tyres, I couldn’t get them working. I had much less grip.
“I thought it could be a problem with the first tyre and so I came back to the garage to change it but again I had the same issue. The Press Association
A tenth of a second separated Pedrosa and Yamaha Factory Racing’s Ben Spies, who had bounced back after suffered a bout of stomach illness that had him retiring from the second practice session after just 5 laps on Friday. The Texan was followed by Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team), who despite going down in turn 5 at the halfway point of the outing, starts from the second row after posting his best lap upon his return to the track on his second bike.
Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) posted a time just over one second off the pole position time to start from the head of the third row. Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) followed the Italian with a 1’46.586 with Héctor Barberá (Mapfre Aspar) ninth behind his compatriot to take the last spot on row three.
Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) was final rider in the top ten. motogp
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