Catalunya, 14 June 2014: Local boy Dani Pedrosa has taken his first pole position since Catalunya last year at his home circuit with teammate Marc Marquez, who was been on pole every race so far this season, crashing out on his final run in qualifying. He will start third on the grid and Lorenzo of Movistar Yamaha who gave a stunning performance last race, is on P2 to continue the battle.

Dani, who is still recovering from his arm surgery five weeks ago, has been gradually improving all weekend after being tenth in Friday’s FP1. His time of 1’40.985 (lap 5/7) was just 0.092 off his pole record from 2013 (1’40.893). Marc had taken provisional pole on his first run, but again the 2013 World Champion and his team opted for a three-run qualifying to give him the best chance at his seventh consecutive pole of 2014. However, on his final run Marc crashed in turn one ending his session. Fortunately his time of 1’41.135, recorded on his first run, was enough for the front row for tomorrow’s 25 lap race.

Pedrosa said: "I am very happy to have taken pole position today, in front of my family and the home fans! I am also delighted that, for the first time this year, I felt good on the bike in qualifying. I'll try and get a good start from pole position tomorrow, I am sure that it will be very hot and we will have to manage the tyres well during the race, but we will try to do as well as possible!”

QUALIFYING RESULTS

  Gran Premi de Catalunya - Round 7

Pos.

Rider

Num.

Nation

Team

Constructor

Time/Gap

1

Dani Pedrosa

26

ESP

Repsol Honda Team

HONDA

1'40.985

2

Jorge Lorenzo

99

ESP

Yamaha Factory Racing

YAMAHA

1'41.100

3

Marc Marquez

93

ESP

Repsol Honda Team

HONDA

1'41.135

4

Stefan Bradl

6

GER

LCR Honda MotoGP

HONDA

1'41.220

5

Valentino Rossi

46

ITA

Yamaha Factory

YAMAHA

1'41.290

6

Aleix Espargaro

41

ESP

NGM Mobile Forward Racing

YAMAHA

1'41.308

7

Andrea Dovizioso

4

ITA

Ducati Team

DUCATI

1'41.337

8

Bradley Smith

38

GBR

Monster Yamaha Tech 3

YAMAHA

1'41.491

9

Yonny Hernandez

68

COL

Pramac Racing

DUCATI

1'41.671

10

Pol Espargaro

44

ESP

Monster Yamaha Tech 3

YAMAHA

1'41.677

11

Andrea Iannone

29

ITA

Pramac Racing

DUCATI

1'41.751

12

Alvaro Bautista

19

ESP

Go & Fun Honda Gresini

HONDA

1'42.024

13

Cal Crutchlow

35

GBR

Ducati Team

DUCATI

1'42.578

14

Scott Redding

45

GBR

Go & Fun Honda Gresini

HONDA

1'42.730

15

Michele Pirro

51

ITA

Ducati Team

DUCATI

1'42.955

16

Nicky Hayden

69

USA

Drive M7 Aspar

HONDA

1'43.043

17

Colin Edwards

5

USA

NGM Mobile Forward Racing

YAMAHA

1'43.226

18

Karel Abraham

17

CZE

Cardion AB Motoracing

HONDA

1'43.360

19

Broc Parkes

23

AUS

Paul Bird Motorsport

PBM

1'43.530

20

Hiroshi Aoyama

7

JPN

Drive M7 Aspar

HONDA

1'43.564

21

Michael Laverty

70

GBR

Paul Bird Motorsport

ART & PBM

1'43.737

22

Hector Barbera

8

ESP

Avintia Racing MotoGP

FTR-KAWASAKI

1'44.115

23

Mike Di Meglio

63

FRA

Avintia Racing MotoGP

FTR-KAWASAKI

1'45.012

24

Michel Fabrizio

84

ITA

IodaRacing Project

IODA-SUTER

1'46.214