7 Apr 2013

Lorenzo on pole for MotoGP season opener

1:05 pm on 7 April 2013

World champion Jorge Lorenzo will start on pole for today's season-opening MotoGP in Qatar after the Yamaha rider topped the times in qualifying.

Spain's Lorenzo grabbed the 52nd pole of his career and his seventh at Losail, edging out Briton Cal Crutchlow, with Honda's Dani Pedrosa, runner-up to Lorenzo in last year's world championship title race, in third.

Crutchlow led for much of the session before Lorenzo produced a quickest flying lap of 1min 54.714sec.

A new qualifying format meant the top 12 riders went head to head in a 15-minute shootout for pole.