Lorenzo Smashes Misano Record On His Way To Pole

Sep 12, 2015
5 min read

Jorge Lorenzo will start tomorrow's San Marino Grand Prix from pole position after a record lap of the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli from the Spaniard.

Lorenzo has been in commanding form all weekend, obliterating the competition in free practice three with his deadly fast laps and metronomic consistency on long-run pace. So, naturally, he was favourite to take top spot in qualifying and he did just that. Opting for a three-lap strategy, a format most chose as the tyres yielded but one fast lap, the four-time Misano winner stayed fastest for the entire second session. He cemented his position on his second lap with a 1:32.146, a whopping seven tenths faster than he managed in the morning.

The Spaniard wasn't happy when he got off of his bike though, as he felt he was held up by his slowing team-mate at the end of the session. Lorenzo stated afterwards that he thought Rossi lost him two tenths through the final sector that would have seen him into the 1:31s, but his previous three sectors were all off the pace anyway, so in the end it made no difference.

The Italian has struggled with grip under braking and the turning capabilities of the M1 so far this weekend. In a quest for extra lap time, Yamaha fitted the aerodynamic wings to his bike in FP4. He was able to find a few tenths to go 3rd, but opted not to run them in qualifying. A last-gasp effort of 1:32.358 saw the Championship leader climb onto the front row in 3rd and got him as close to his team-mate on the time sheets as he'd been all weekend.

The man starting between the Yamaha pair may be one of their best friends tomorrow depending on how the race unfolds. Marc Marquez has ruled himself out of the title after his Silverstone crash, and has now turned his attention to winning as many races as possible. This means that the Honda rider will have quite an effect on how the standings will look after the chequered flag; Rossi will be hoping he can deny Lorenzo the lead at the start and hold the Spaniard up. With tyres lasting only a few laps before the wear kicks in, the pace between the top bunch will even out – if FP4 is anything to go by. Marquez has proven unable to match Lorenzo's consistency, but if he can just hang on for a dozen laps, and providing Rossi gets off the line well, and that has proven easier said than done of late, then the Italian may be able to take the fight to his title rival. But if Lorenzo is able to get away, and Rossi is unable to pass Marquez, then the Spaniard will have just allowed his compatriot to claw back nine points on Rossi heading into Aragon.

As with all races, but especially here, the start will be absolutely vital. The pack tends to concertina up through the opening bends and contact is inevitable. Getting a bad launch could be detrimental to your race.

Duacti tend to cause problems for riders trying to fight their way to the front - Rossi has had to fight his way past Desmosedicis on several occasions this year following bad starts. One man who'll be out for glory after a stellar qualifying is Michele Pirro. The Italian, standing in as a wild card this weekend as per his contract with the Bologna factory, knows Misano like the back of his hand as it is a circuit he and the team use extensively for testing. Conjuring up all of his prior knowledge of the track, Pirro guided his GP15 to a 1:32.736 for 5th and top Ducati honours.

Andrea Iannone was next best GP15 in 7th, with team-mate Andrea Dovizioso 8th and the Pramac bike of Danilo Petrucci 9th. The Silverstone runner-up has had a few issues with grip in practice, so hopefully he'll be able to dial them out in morning warm up to really capitalise on his strong starting spot.

Bradley Smith is gunning for his 19th consecutive points finish tomorrow and has made that job a little easier by qualifying his Tech 3 Yamaha 6th. Team-mate Pol Espargaro would have most likely been very close to Smith had he not crashed at the start of the session. Espargaro slid off at turn nine and was only able to manage 12th.

Aleix Espargaro managed to get his Suzuki into the top ten having gone through QP1 initially. The GSX-RR-mounted riders have been having a tricky time of things this weekend, their horsepower deficit really hurting them this weekend. But the soft rear Bridgestone allowed them to find a little extra to top the opening qualifying session. Maverick Vinales was set to join his team-mate in the second session, but unable to find anything more from his bike. He instead will start 14th.

Cal Crutchlow and Scott Redding both had to contest QP1. The former made it in after going 2nd quickest in the session, but the Marc VDS rider was left to rue another missed opportunity. Cal went onto put his LCR Honda 11th in QP2.

Forward Racing come into this weekend not knowing if it will be their last or not as their financial situation worsens following Giovanni Cuzari's arrest in July. And their session did not get off to a great start either. Claudio Corti stalled at pit-out once again, but was saved by the kindness of the Aspar mechanics. He went onto qualify a lowly 24th. Loris Baz on the other hand enjoyed a great session to go 16th and claim top open honours.

Alex De Angelis brings up the rear of the field on the Ioda ART, whilst Stefan Bradl once again outpaced Alvaro Bautista on the Aprilia RS-GP in 19th and 20th.

2015 San Marino Grand Prix – The Grid:

1st Jorge Lorenzo, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP, 1:32.146

2nd Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team, 1:32.252

3rd Valentino Rossi, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP, 1:32.358

4th Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team, 1:32.434

5th Michele Pirro, Ducati Team, 1:32.736

6th Bradley Smith, Monster Yamaha Tech 3, 1:32.801

7th Andrea Iannone, Ducati Team, 1:32.821

8th Andrea Dovizioso, Ducati Team, 1:32.934

9th Danilo Petrucci, Octo Pramac Racing Ducati, 1:33.169

10th Aleix Espargaro, Team Suzuki Ecstar, 1:33.187

11th Cal Crutchlow, LCR Honda, 1:33.220