At the end of the qualifying in Jerez, Dani Pedrosa secured the pole position for Sunday’s Gran Premio bwin de Espana. But tomorrow’s MotoGP race is bound to be tight as all top ten qualifiers finished within .9 seconds of one another. Pedrosa was competitive throughout the day, but it wasn’t until his 23rd of 25 laps that he took the lead ahead of Jorge Lorenzo. The Spanish duo gave the Jerez crowd something to cheer about with their 1-2 finish.
Ducati Marlboro rider Casey Stoner rode into third. Stoner was just .04 seconds off of the tail of Lorenzo, who was .285 seconds behind Pedrossa.
Valentino Rossi will start the second row of the grid, coming in fourth behind Stoner. Nicky Hayden, who suffered a crash during the second free practice, bounced back for a fifth place finish. Randy de Puniet completes the second row, and places the top six riders within .4 seconds of on another.
Colin Edwards and Ben Spies took the next two spots in 7th and 8th, and the top ten was finished off by Andrea Dovizioso and Marco Melandri.
MotoGP - Qualifying Times - Gran Premio bwin de Espana
1. Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda Team 1m 39.202s
2. Jorge Lorenzo SPA Fiat Yamaha Team 1m 39.487s
3. Casey Stoner AUS Ducati Marlboro Team 1m 39.511s
4. Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha Team 1m 39.558s
5. Nicky Hayden USA Ducati Marlboro Team 1m 39.560s
6. Randy de Puniet FRA LCR Honda MotoGP 1m 39.591s
7. Colin Edwards USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1m 39.970s
8. Ben Spies USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1m 39.989s
9. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Repsol Honda Team 1m 40.021s
10. Marco Melandri ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m 40.027s
11. Loris Capirossi ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1m 40.206s
12. Hiroshi Aoyama JPN Interwetten Honda MotoGP 1m 40.322s
13. Alvaro Bautista SPA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1m 40.416s
14. Hector Barbera SPA Paginas Amarillas Aspar 1m 40.482s
15. Aleix Espargaro SPA Pramac Racing 1m 40.555s
16. Marco Simoncelli ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m 40.586s
17. Mika Kallio FIN Pramac Racing 1m 40.803s
