Lorenzo on pole in Germany

SACHENRING: Jorge Lorenzo of Spain secured his fourth successive pole for the German Grand Prix.

The Yamaha rider, who had to complete qualifying on his spare bike, is seeking his sixth win of this year’s MotoGP championship, which he leads with 165 points. Lorenzo has started on the front of the grid in the three last races that he has gone on to win, at Silverstone, Assen and Barcelona.

Joining him on the front row in today’s race are Australia’s Casey Stoner on his Ducati and Dani Pedrosa of Honda.

On the second row are Italian Andrea Dovizioso, reigning world champion Valentino Rossi, who has made a remarkable return to the track just six weeks after breaking his leg at Mugello in Italy, and Hector Barbera. Lorenzo grabbed pole in a time of one minute and 21.817 seconds in the final five minutes of the qualifying session, with Stoner second 0.024 seconds away and long-time leader Pedrosa 0.131 seconds back in third.

Qualifying was held up for 15 minutes after Lorenzo’s bike broke down with oil spilling out onto the Sachsenring circuit at the start of the straight by the grandstand, which caused two spectacular crashes. American Ben Spies first parted company with his Honda and his teammate Randy de Puniet then somersaulted off his machine. The French rider returned to the pits on the back of a scooter before undergoing x-rays on his ankle and right tibia.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 18^th, 2010.