Movistar Yamaha MotoGP's local hero Jorge Lorenzo waited until the final moment to secure a third place starting position today at the Motorland Aragón circuit. Teammate Valentino Rossi was also in contention for a front row until the lap times tumbled during the last minutes of today's close 15-minute qualifying session and he will start tomorrow's Gran Premio Movistar de Aragón from sixth on the grid.

Eager to position his Yamaha YZR-M1 at the front of the field, Lorenzo was the last rider out of the box as 'Qualifying 2' began, to find some clear space on track. He cautiously warmed up his tyres, setting provisional seventh fastest time on his first attempt, before he quickly put the hammer down and improved to a 1'47.934s on his second effort, taking hold of third position.

With six minutes remaining, he returned to the box before rejoining the track for a final attack. As the times dropped, the Mallorcan put his head down at the very end of the session and delivered a 1'47.778s to take third on the grid at the final flag.

Rossi had a similar strategy to his teammate. The Doctor, who walked away uninjured from an early crash in this morning's FP3 session, left it late to leave pit lane at the beginning of Q2. After he gave the other riders a head start before heading out on track, he quickly dropped a first flying lap of 1'48.729s, taking provisional third place until the pace picked up when his rivals completed their second lap. He improved on his time on his second try, reclaiming third place by posting a 1'48.110s, but was soon pushed back one place by his teammate.

With a little more than six minutes remaining the Italian returned to the pits and quickly headed back out on track a minute later to resume his time attack. He improved on his best time on his third attempt, but a flurry of hot laps by rivals in the last minutes landed him in seventh position. With just enough time left for one final push, Rossi dropped under the 1'48s mark with a 1'47.951s, to secure sixth on the grid, from where he will start tomorrow's race.

Massimo Meregalli - Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team Director

"It's been an eventful second day at the Motorland Aragón circuit. Jorge worked in the right direction in the free practice sessions and he did well to drop a strong 1'47.778s in the last minute to secure third place. Valentino had a crash this morning on cold tyres, but he is unharmed. His sixth position in qualifying isn't an accurate reflection of his speed. The pace he has shown during the practices is promising, so we have good confidence for the race, though there is still a gap to our main competitors. We will look to make another step before tomorrow's warm up to be capable of fighting for the podium."



Jorge Lorenzo - 3rd / 1'47.778 / 7 laps

"This morning with the soft front tyre I was competitive, just like yesterday. The only problem is that when we put in a hard-and-hard combination on this bike and with my riding, that I'm too slow. The other's don't suffer so much and can be competitive, so we have to decide if tomorrow it's possible to use the soft rear tyre, because with that option we are maybe not as fast as our main rival, but we are OK. With the hard one, it's difficult, so let's see if the soft tyre is the right option, because it looks like after 10 or 15 laps especially the right side is destroyed."

Valentino Rossi - 6th / 1'47.951 / 7 laps

"It was a difficult day. The start was the worst because I made a mistake on cold tyres and I crashed. The shoulder and the hand are OK, but we lost a lot of time and we need to try something and work on the bike. This afternoon in the free practice it wasn't so bad and I had quite a good pace, so I wanted and expected to start a little bit more towards the front. Unfortunately, during a good lap I wasn't strong enough and from second place we are all very close, so I have to start from the second row. Now we have to work because during the race the story will be very different: it's a long race and everybody is struggling with the tyres, so we need to find the best way to be fast again."