Lorenzo: "That was the lap of my life!"

It was a record 63 poles apiece for Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP), teammate Valentino Rossi and Repsol Honda Team's Marc Marquez heading into qualifying at Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, with the next man to take the top spot poised to take back the record. That man was Jorge Lorenzo, as the 'Spartan' topped the session twice before finally breaking into the 1:31s on his final attempt. The 1:31.868 is the first ever laptime in the bracket around Misano, and smashes his own pole record from 2015. Lorenzo also looked strong on race pace in the proceeding practice sessions, and will be looking to take back the top step on Sunday on arch-rival Rossi's home turf.

Jorge Lorenzo (P1 - Pole Position record): "You always have the impression that the last pole position is the best of your life but I really think that this one is. Maybe the second one is also a great lap time, but because I already had that I wanted to risk a bit more to improve the lap time and I risked a bit more in the braking and opened the throttle a bit more, especially in the slow corners where there is less chance of injury. So I'm really happy about the pole position. In FP4 my rear tyre was a bit less grippy but we were able to make some improvements and in qualifying, with less petrol, finally we were able to do this lap time. Little by little we've improved the bike in a lot of corners, practice-by-practice, and I think we have a clear idea of what tires we're going to use. It depends on the bike and the rider. Race pace I think we're on 33.0 and high 32s, and that could be winning pace."