Italy’s Valentino Rossi took pole position ahead of Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo and Spain’s Dani Pedrosa (Honda) in qualifying for the MotoGP French Grand Prix on Saturday.
Rossi set the session’s fastest time on the 28th of his 30 laps and took pole by 0.054sec from championship leader Lorenzo.
Pedrosa, who will be competing in his 150th grand prix on Sunday, completed the front row. Times of India
Casey Stoner had been one of those competing for pole throughout the session but the Ducati Marlboro man had to settle for the first slot on the second row, 0.416s off Rossi’s time as he felt the benefit of some changes to his front forks.
The Australian’s team-mate Nicky Hayden, at just two-hundredths behind, joined him as the final rider under the 1’34” mark to register the fifth best time. LCR Honda rider Randy de Puniet will start his home GP from the second row as well after an impressive session placed him sixth.
Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso pushed himself to the front of row three with a final lap that placed him seventh in the session, and Colin Edwards of the Monster Yamaha Tech3 team and Rizla Suzuki’s Loris Capirossi were eighth and ninth fastest respectively. MotoGP
Top rookie was Pramac’s Aleix Espargaro in tenth, with Marco Melandri - who has switched back to Showa suspension this weekend - eleventh for Gresini Honda.
Ben Spies will start his first French MotoGP from 12th after braving the pain from an ankle injury sustained this morning, but Mika Kallio - who injured his shoulder in the same session - was left 16th and last.
The grid has been reduced to 16 riders because Capirossi’s team-mate Alvaro Bautista has been forced to withdraw after a big highside in the morning practice, which was the last thing he needed after breaking his collarbone while training last week. Yahoo! Eurosport
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MotoGP: French Grand Prix - Race Line-Up
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