Stoner takes pole in Catalunya

Barcelona - World champion Casey Stoner will start on pole in Sunday's Catalunya motorcycling Grand Prix after the Honda rider posted the quickest time in qualifying at the Montmelo circuit on Saturday.

The Australian picked up the 40th pole of his career by edging Spain's Jorge Lorenzo by 0.146sec with Lorenzo's Yamaha team-mate, Briton Cal Crutchlow, in third, at 0.253.

Stoner is bidding to win here for the second year in a row in a season which will be his last in MotoGP after announcing his shock decision to retire at the French MotoGP last month.

He set his pole-securing lap time of 1min 41.295 eight minutes from the end of the session.