Lorenzo stays on top ahead of qualifying

The Saturday morning MotoGP outing in pleasant conditions at the historic Brno circuit in the Czech Republic saw Jorge Lorenzo keep up his good form from Friday as he lapped in a superb time of 1’56.331s to state his intentions to his rivals.

The Spanish star is looking to bounce back from a Donington DNF having crashed out in the UK and he appears to be in good shape at Brno, as he seeks to cut Valentino Rossi’s 25 point championship advantage this weekend, with seven races remaining, including tomorrow’s Czech contest.

Lapping the 5.4km track with his own best time of 1’56.787 Rossi was the third quickest participant in this session, whilst another strong podium candidate Dani Pedrosa was sandwiched by the Fiat Yamaha pair in second place, with a lap just over a tenth of a second down on Lorenzo’s best.

As he was on Friday afternoon Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Colin Edwards was fourth fastest, joined by fellow veteran Loris Capirossi of the Rizla Suzuki team in the top five, Capirossi lapping around a second off Lorenzo and Edwards seven tenths down on the Spaniard’s pace.

The top ten also featured Toni Elías (San Carlo Honda Gresini), Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda), Mika Kallio (Ducati Marlboro), Alex de Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini) and Nicky Hayden (Ducati Marlboro).

MotoGP qualifying at the Cardion ab Czech Republic Grand Prix takes place at 1.55pm local time and can be followed live here on motogp.com.