Lorenzo on pole in Qatar

LOSAIL, Qatar (AFP) –

Yamaha MotoGP rider Jorge Lorenzo of Spain celebrates after taking the pole position during a qualifying practice session part of the Qatar Grand Prix on April 6, 2013 at the Losail International Circuit in the Qatari capital Doha.

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

Spain’s Lorenzo grabbed the 52nd pole of his career and his seventh at Losail, edging out Briton Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha), 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.

Spain’s Moto2 champion Marc Marquez will start on the second row on his MotoGP debut after posting the sixth quickest time, with nine-time champion Valentino Rossi, back at Yamaha after a frustrating spell with Ducati, on the third row.

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

Pol Espargaro will start on pole in the Moto2 race with Luis Salom leading KTM to a first four shut-out in the Moto3 grid.