MotoGP leader Jorge Lorenzo produced a record lap to seize pole position for Sunday’s Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix, with Australian Casey Stoner qualifying fourth fastest.
Spaniard Lorenzo stopped the clock at 2 minutes 00.334 seconds at the end of the one-hour qualifying session on Saturday, breaking the circuit record of 2:00.518 set by Italian rider Valentino Rossi in qualifying in 2009.
Lorenzo’s closest rival, fellow Spaniard Dani Pedrosa on a Honda, posted the second fastest time, Italian Andrea Dovizioso third quickest with Stoner in fourth.
Britain’s Cal Crutchlow, on a Yamaha, took fifth, with American Ben Spies sixth on the grid.
Pedrosa clocked 2:00.528, 0.194 seconds slower than Lorenzo in a close-fought battle while Dovizioso posted 2:00.567.
It will be Lorenzo’s seventh pole start of the season.
Nine-time world champion Rossi’s bad season for Ducati continued after he crashed during the first few minutes of the third practice. He qualified eleventh on the grid.