Lorenzo on pole in Qatar

Losail - 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, edging out his British teammate, Cal Crutchlow, with Honda rider 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.

Grid for Sunday's season-opening Qatar motorcycling Grand Prix after qualifying on Saturday:

MotoGP

1. Jorge Lorenzo (ESP/Yamaha 1min 54.714sec, 2. Cal Crutchlow (GBR/Yamaha) at 0.202, 3. Dani Pedrosa (ESP/Honda) 0.437, 4. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA/Ducati) 0.446, 5. Stefan Bradl (GER/Honda) 0.763, 6. Marc Marquez (ESP/Honda) 0.931, 7. Valentino Rossi (ITA/Yamaha) 0.997, 8. Alvaro Bautista (ESP/Honda) 1.156, 9. Bradley Smith (GBR/) 1.601, 10. Andrea Iannone (ITA/Ducati) 1.809, 11. Nicky Hayden (USA/Ducati) 1.953, 12. Aleix Espargaro (ESP/Aprilia) 2.350