Under glorious sunshine in scorching hot temperatures at the Gran Premi Aperol de Catalunya it was Repsol Honda Team’s Casey Stoner who secured pole position for tomorrow’s race in dominant fashion ahead of Jorge Lorenzo and Cal Crutchlow.

With a fast lap in the low 1.41s, Stoner relegated Yamaha Racing Team’s local rider Lorenzo into second on the grid, who was just over a tenth down on the current world champion. Rounding out the front row is Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Cal Crutchlow, who equalled his best ever start, yet will be looking to convert it into a podium for the first time in his MotoGP career.

Just fractionally slower, Lorenzo’s teammate Ben Spies will start from fourth, putting himself in contention for a much needed good race result tomorrow. Next to him in fifth is Stoner’s teammate and local favourite Dani Pedrosa, who ran off track in turn 10 on his hot lap, and was unable to improve on his time. Tech 3’s Andrea Dovizioso completes row two in sixth place, after having led the qualifying session in the early stages.

Seventh on the grid is Ducati Team’s Nicky Hayden, who has looked strong all day after posting the fifth fastest time in the morning practice. He ousted LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl into eighth, who recovered from a small crash yesterday to finish as top Honda satellite rider.

Ninth spot is occupied by Ducati’s Valentino Rossi, who after a difficult day yesterday managed to claw back some place, having reverted back to a carbon fibre swingarm. San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Álvaro Bautista completes the top ten, failing to emulate his second place in yesterday’s practice.

Highest CRT spot went to Power Electronics Aspar’s Randy de Puniet, who managed to beat his local teammate Aleix Espargaró for the first time this weekend. Apart from Pedrosa’s excursion off track, the only other rider to take a detour through the gravel was Avintia Blusens’ Yonny Hernandez.

.