Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo set a new track record to snatch pole position for Sunday’s San Marino MotoGP ahead of Australian Jack Miller and fellow Spaniard Maverick Vinales.

Ducati Team’s Spanish rider Jorge Lorenzo celebrates winning the pole position during the qualifying session of the San Marino MotoGP Grand Prix race at the Marco Simoncelli Circuit in Misano on September 8, 2018. / AFP PHOTO

World champion and current championship leader Marc Marquez suffered a shock fall that saw him qualify 5th on a spare bike.

Three-time top-class world champion Lorenzo dominated Saturday’s second qualifying session to claim his third pole position so far this season with a new lap record of 1min 31.629sec on the Misano track.

The Spanish rider finished 28 hundredths of a second ahead of Alma Pramac Racing’s Miller with Yamaha’s Vinales at 0.32sec.

Lorenzo’s Ducati teammate Andrea Dovizioso and Spaniard Marquez of Honda closed out the top five on Italy’s Adriatic coast.

Italy’s Valentino Rossi was seventh fastest for Yamaha, at a venue where he has won three times – most recently in 2014.

AFP