Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo has romped to pole position for the AirAsia Grand Prix of Japan in a hard-fought and incident-packed qualifying session at the Twin Ring Motegi.
Setting a new track record with the only time in the 1.44s, Lorenzo pushed Repsol Honda Team’s Dani Pedrosa into second on the grid,after the Spaniard had looked on track for pole.
Cal Crutchlow completes the row in third, with the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider doing well to save a near crash. It is the Brit’s seventh front-row start for 2012.
Heading Row 2 is Yamaha’s Ben Spies, who suffered an awkward crash in the dying seconds of the session but was able to walk away. San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Álvaro Bautista is fifth ahead of Crutchlow’s team-mate Andrea Dovizioso.
Returning rider Casey Stoner heads the third row in seventh, with the Australian still struggling slightly with the bike on his return from injury.
Alongside him in eighth is LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl, who’s session got off to a bad start with a crash, although the German managed to head back out for the latter part of qualifying.
Ninth and 10th went to Ducati Team’s Valentino Rossi, and Nicky Hayden.
Power Electronics Aspar’s Aleix Espargaró took top CRT spot in 13th, consolidating the form he has shown all weekend.
Qualifying, Japan
| Pos. | Num. | Rider | Nation | Team | Bike | Km/h | Time | Gap 1st/Prev. |
| 1 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | SPA | Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha | 302.4 | 1’44.969 | |
| 2 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 306.9 | 1’45.215 | 0.246 / 0.246 |
| 3 | 35 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | GBR | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 304.7 | 1’45.257 | 0.288 / 0.042 |
| 4 | 11 | Ben SPIES | USA | Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha | 302.5 | 1’45.336 | 0.367 / 0.079 |
| 5 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | SPA | San Carlo Honda Gresini | Honda | 303.7 | 1’45.481 | 0.512 / 0.145 |
| 6 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | ITA | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 302.9 | 1’45.612 | 0.643 / 0.131 |
| 7 | 1 | Casey STONER | AUS | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 304.0 | 1’45.745 | 0.776 / 0.133 |
| 8 | 6 | Stefan BRADL | GER | LCR Honda MotoGP | Honda | 309.1 | 1’45.848 | 0.879 / 0.103 |
| 9 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | ITA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 302.6 | 1’45.976 | 1.007 / 0.128 |
| 10 | 69 | Nicky HAYDEN | USA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 301.8 | 1’46.461 | 1.492 / 0.485 |
| 11 | 21 | Katsuyuki NAKASUGA | JPN | Yamaha YSP Racing Team | Yamaha | 303.0 | 1’46.780 | 1.811 / 0.319 |
| 12 | 8 | Hector BARBERA | SPA | Pramac Racing Team | Ducati | 305.2 | 1’46.881 | 1.912 / 0.101 |
| 13 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARO | SPA | Power Electronics Aspar | ART | 286.5 | 1’47.383 | 2.414 / 0.502 |
| 14 | 14 | Randy DE PUNIET | FRA | Power Electronics Aspar | ART | 288.7 | 1’47.581 | 2.612 / 0.198 |
| 15 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | CZE | Cardion AB Motoracing | Ducati | 303.2 | 1’47.791 | 2.822 / 0.210 |
| 16 | 5 | Colin EDWARDS | USA | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | Suter | 287.2 | 1’48.125 | 3.156 / 0.334 |
| 17 | 68 | Yonny HERNANDEZ | COL | Avintia Blusens | BQR | 284.7 | 1’48.513 | 3.544 / 0.388 |
| 18 | 51 | Michele PIRRO | ITA | San Carlo Honda Gresini | FTR | 283.6 | 1’48.653 | 3.684 / 0.140 |
| 19 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | ITA | Came IodaRacing Project | Ioda-Suter | 283.6 | 1’48.831 | 3.862 / 0.178 |
| 20 | 77 | James ELLISON | GBR | Paul Bird Motorsport | ART | 286.5 | 1’49.023 | 4.054 / 0.192 |
| 21 | 84 | Roberto ROLFO | ITA | Speed Master | ART | 282.9 | 1’49.183 | 4.214 / 0.160 |
| 22 | 22 | Ivan SILVA | SPA | Avintia Blusens | BQR | 283.8 | 1’49.831 | 4.862 / 0.648 |
