Lorenzo blows away lap record for Misano pole

Full MotoGP qualifying results from Misano

Jorge Lorenzo has stormed to back-to-back pole positions with lap record pace at Misano, while Marc Marquez recovering from a heavy crash in a frantic Q2 session.

The Ducati rider laid down an initial marker with a new lap record to take provisional pole at the Italian track with Marquez a quarter of a second back in second place at the end of the first runs.

Marquez, who was running a two-stop strategy in qualifying, then suffered a dramatic crash at Turn 15 on his second run which he almost saved on his elbow in his accustomed style.

The off saw Marquez sprint back to his Repsol Honda garage, darting straight through the back of the pits, to jump on his second bike to re-join the battle for pole position.

The reigning MotoGP world champion threatened to take pole position off Lorenzo with a red first sector on his opening flying lap which forced the rest of the field to up the pace.

Lorenzo duly delivered with another lap record of 1m 31.629s to consolidate his pole position, while Pramac Ducti’s Jack Miller impressed by jumping up to second place.

Marquez was forced to bail out of his final lap after a moment at Turn 10 which saw him eventually drop to fifth place by the chequered flag.

Movistar Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales continued his return to form by bolting on to the front row in third with his final flying lap to push Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso down fourth place.

Cal Crutchlow completes the second row despite crashing out of his final qualifying lap on the LCR Honda, with Valentino Rossi having to settle for seventh place in front of his home crowd for Movistar Yamaha.

Rossi is joined on row three by Danilo Petrucci on the Pramac Ducati and Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Johann Zarco.

Alex Rins has put his Suzuki on the front of row four with both Q1 qualifiers Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) and Franco Morbidelli (Marc VDS Honda) completing the top 12 – the latter crashing out on his only Q2 lap.

Andrea Iannone was the unlucky 13^th-placed rider who missed out on Q2 for Suzuki, with Ducati wildcard Michele Pirro and Angel Nieto Ducati’s Alvaro Bautista completing row five.

Pol Espgargaro is continuing his injury comeback for Red Bull KTM qualifying in 20^th, three spots behind team-mate Bradley Smith, with Avintia Ducati replacement rider Christophe Ponsson completing the grid in 26^th over three seconds off nearest rival Hafizh Syahrin.