Australian Honda rider Casey Stoner has claimed pole position for the Iveco TT Assen in the Netherlands.
The retiring world champ saved his best until last in a mixed weather session, claiming the pole on his final lap and edging out team-mate Dani Pedrosa. Due to light and intermittent showers, Stoner looked destined to start tomorrow’s race from ninth, but the clouds parted in the final moments where Stoner pieced together an amazing lap of 1m33.713s to push Pedrosa back to second.
The result gives the Repsol Honda team the first two places on the front-row.
Factory Yamaha championship leader Jorge Lorenzo will start from third, but did not have an answer for the fast Hondas.
LCR Honda rider Stefan Bradl took an encouraging fourth place, his best MotoGP effort.
Cal Crutchlow jumped up the order late in the session on his Tech 3 Yamaha to take fifth ahead of Ben Spies (Yamaha), Andrea Dovizioso (Tech 3 Yamaha), Silverstone pole-sitter Alvaro Bautista (Gresini Honda) and the Ducati duo of Nicky Hayden and Valentino Rossi.
Aspar Aprilia team-mates Randy de Puniet and Aleix Espargaro led the CRT division, claiming 12th and 13th respectively.
Qualifying results, Assen
| Pos. | Num. | Rider | Nation | Team | Bike | Km/h | Time | Gap 1st/Prev. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Casey STONER | AUS | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 303.4 | 1’33.713 | |
| 2 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 303.4 | 1’33.828 | 0.115 / 0.115 |
| 3 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | SPA | Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha | 305.7 | 1’34.001 | 0.288 / 0.173 |
| 4 | 6 | Stefan BRADL | GER | LCR Honda MotoGP | Honda | 304.0 | 1’34.035 | 0.322 / 0.034 |
| 5 | 35 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | GBR | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 299.0 | 1’34.486 | 0.773 / 0.451 |
| 6 | 11 | Ben SPIES | USA | Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha | 297.2 | 1’34.644 | 0.931 / 0.158 |
| 7 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | ITA | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 299.6 | 1’34.698 | 0.985 / 0.054 |
| 8 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | SPA | San Carlo Honda Gresini | Honda | 299.4 | 1’34.722 | 1.009 / 0.024 |
| 9 | 69 | Nicky HAYDEN | USA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 300.0 | 1’34.751 | 1.038 / 0.029 |
| 10 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | ITA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 302.1 | 1’35.057 | 1.344 / 0.306 |
| 11 | 8 | Hector BARBERA | SPA | Pramac Racing Team | Ducati | 305.0 | 1’35.289 | 1.576 / 0.232 |
| 12 | 14 | Randy DE PUNIET | FRA | Power Electronics Aspar | ART | 286.6 | 1’35.830 | 2.117 / 0.541 |
| 13 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARO | SPA | Power Electronics Aspar | ART | 286.3 | 1’36.007 | 2.294 / 0.177 |
| 14 | 51 | Michele PIRRO | ITA | San Carlo Honda Gresini | FTR | 283.2 | 1’36.647 | 2.934 / 0.640 |
| 15 | 54 | Mattia PASINI | ITA | Speed Master | ART | 284.7 | 1’36.943 | 3.230 / 0.296 |
| 16 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | ITA | Came IodaRacing Project | Ioda | 270.0 | 1’36.967 | 3.254 / 0.024 |
| 17 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | CZE | Cardion AB Motoracing | Ducati | 302.8 | 1’37.110 | 3.397 / 0.143 |
| 18 | 68 | Yonny HERNANDEZ | COL | Avintia Blusens | BQR | 279.8 | 1’37.191 | 3.478 / 0.081 |
| 19 | 77 | James ELLISON | GBR | Paul Bird Motorsport | ART | 283.5 | 1’37.281 | 3.568 / 0.090 |
| 20 | 22 | Ivan SILVA | SPA | Avintia Blusens | BQR | 284.3 | 1’37.554 | 3.841 / 0.273 |
| 21 | 5 | Colin EDWARDS | USA | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | Suter | 283.4 | 1’38.305 | 4.592 / 0.751 |
