Lorenzo stays on top in the warm-up
Fiat Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo has shown his pole position was not just a flash in the pan by topping the times in the warm-up ahead of tonight's motorcycling Grand Prix of Qatar
The reigning 250cc champion set the fastest time of the session (1:55.849) with just a couple of minutes remaining, and showed that he has the pace by setting two more laps under the one minute 56 seconds barrier.
The only other rider able to do that feat was Ducati Marlboro's Casey Stoner, who ended the session 12 thousandths of a second behind the Spaniard.
Valentino Rossi, on the other Fiat Yamaha, had to settle for the third fastest time of 1:56.000. Both Stoner and Rossi are fitted with Bridgestone tyres, while Lorenzo is on Michelins.
John Hopkins set the fourth fastest time with his Kawasaki, ahead of the Rizla Suzukis of Chris Vermeulen and Capirossi, the two separated by only 0.003 seconds, over half a second behind Lorenzo.
Tech 3 Yamaha's Colin Edwards, who will start the race from the third spot, set the seventh fastest time, ahead of Alex de Angelis's Honda Gresini, Dani Pedrosa's works Repsol Honda, and Randy de Puniet's LCR Honda rounding up the top ten.
The other works Honda, that of former champion Nicky Hayden, was down in 14th place, ahead of the Tech 3 Yamaha of James Toseland, who qualified second for the race.
Ducati Marlboro's Marco Melandri continued with his dismal weekend by setting the slowest time of the warm-up, 2.3 seconds behind Lorenzo.
Pos Rider Bike Time 1. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha (M) 1:55.849 2. Casey Stoner Ducati (B) 1:55.861 + 0.012 3. Valentino Rossi Yamaha (B) 1:56.000 + 0.151 4. John Hopkins Kawasaki (B) 1:56.161 + 0.312 5. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki (B) 1:56.418 + 0.569 6. Loris Capirossi Suzuki (B) 1:56.421 + 0.572 7. Colin Edwards Yamaha (M) 1:56.456 + 0.607 8. Alex de Angelis Honda (B) 1:56.482 + 0.633 9. Daniel Pedrosa Honda (M) 1:56.536 + 0.687 10. Randy de Puniet Honda (M) 1:56.547 + 0.698 11. Andrea Dovizioso Honda (M) 1:56.829 + 0.980 12. Shinya Nakano Honda (B) 1:56.834 + 0.985 13. Toni Elias Ducati (B) 1:57.101 + 1.252 14. Nicky Hayden Honda (M) 1:57.191 + 1.342 15. James Toseland Yamaha (M) 1:57.191 + 1.342 16. Sylvain Guintoli Ducati (B) 1:57.669 + 1.820 17. Anthony West Kawasaki (B) 1:57.914 + 2.065 18. Marco Melandri Ducati (B) 1:58.212 + 2.363
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