Jorge Lorenzo has taken pole position for Sunday's Portuguese MotoGP race at Estoril ahead of Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner.
Spaniard lines up ahead of Rossi and Stoner in Portugal
Jorge Lorenzo has taken pole position for Sunday's Portuguese MotoGP race at Estoril.
The Spaniard, who scored his maiden premier class victory in Portugal last year, set a fastest time of one minute 36.214 seconds to beat Fiat Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi by a quarter of a second.
Lorenzo's fifth pole of the season also keeps the pressure on championship leader Rossi, although the Italian holds a healthy 30-point lead.
The defending world champion realistically needs just to finish the remaining four races to claim his seventh premier class crown.
Casey Stoner, who had missed the last three races with what doctors have diagnosed as a low blood pressure problem, was third-fastest on his Ducati Marlboro with a time 0.054secs slower than Rossi.
Dani Pedrosa is at the front of the second row on his Repsol Honda after impressing in all three of the day's sessions, with the Catalan half a second behind Rossi.
Colin Edwards starts fifth on his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 ahead of LCR Honda rider Randy de Puniet.
It was also announced on Saturday that new Yamaha recruit Ben Spies will compete as a wild card entrant at the season-ending Valencia GP on November 8.
The American, who is challenging for the World Superbikes championship this year, will move to MotoGP on a permanent basis next year with James Toseland heading in the opposite direction.
