Casey Stoner will start Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix from pole position, having dominated this afternoon’s qualifying session at the Motegi circuit. The Repsol Honda rider outpaced surprise nearest rival Jorge Lorenzo by 0.256 seconds, while team-mates Andrea Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa had to settle for third and fourth.
Further lap-time improvements were made as conditions continued to offer more grip, with the top four riders all beating the 1:46.000 barrier. Ben Spies and Marco Simoncelli form the back of the second row with their efforts, with Valentino Rossi not far behind courtesy of another strong performance for the factory Ducati team.
Álvaro Bautista was next up in eighth, just ahead of fellow Spaniard Hector Barbera and Nicky Hayden who completed the top ten runners. Tech 3’s Cal Crutchlow and Colin Edwards endured quite challenging session en route to 12th and 14th, while new riders Damian Cudlin and Shunichi Itoh once again completed the classification.
Sunday's race begins at 3pm local time (BST +8)
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Casey Stoner
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| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  C. Stoner | Repsol Honda | 01:45.267 | 21 |
| 2. | J. Lorenzo | Fiat Yamaha | 01:45.523 | 25 |
| 3. | A. Dovizioso | Repsol Honda | 01:45.791 | 27 |
| 4. | D. Pedrosa | Repsol Honda | 01:45.966 | 25 |
| 5. | B. Spies | Fiat Yamaha | 01:46.042 | 25 |
| 6. | M. Simoncelli | Gresini | 01:46.211 | 25 |
| 7. | V. Rossi | Ducati | 01:46.467 | 26 |
| 8. | A. Bautista | Rizla Suzuki | 01:46.586 | 28 |
| 9. | H. Barbera | Aspar Team | 01:46.694 | 23 |
| 10. | N. Hayden | Ducati | 01:46.763 | 26 |
| Full results | ||||
| Casey Stoner | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| More Casey Stoner photos | |||
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