Throughout the 2011 MotoGP season, Jorge Lorenzo, Dani Pedrosa, or Casey Stoner have been at the top. But today a new name emerged at the front. Marco Simoncelli took the pole positon today at Catalunya ahead of Lorenzo and Stoner.
Simoncelli, who was reprimanded by race direction earlier this week for the incident at Le Mans that put Pedrosa on the sidelines, set a 1’42.413 lap time at Catalunya. Simoncelli set his fast time on the final lap of the session, beating out Stoner, who led for the entire session, by .016 seconds.
Lorenzo, who won at Catalunya in 2010, took the third place spot behind Stoner.
Ben Spies was next across the line. Spies has struggled this season but looked like he was in top form during the qualifying session in Cataluna. Spies missed the front row by .014 seconds and was only .3 seconds from the pace setter. Spies will be joined on the front row by Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow.
Valentino Rossi will start the third row ahead of teammate Nicky Hayden.
MotoGP Grid Positions - Cataluna
Row 1 - Simoncelli / Stoner / Lorenzo
Row 2 - Spies / Dovizioso / Crutchlow
Row 3 - Rossi / Hayden / Bautista
