Stoner storms to Valencia pole

Casey Stoner took a convincing pole position for tomorrow’s MotoGP finale at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo, outpacing nearest rival and Repsol Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa by more than a second. Third place and the final spot on the front row went to Ben Spies, with Pramac’s Randy de Puniet again performing well en route to fourth.

Slightly faster track conditions saw Stoner further increase his advantage over the rest of the field this afternoon, the Australian equalling Mick Doohan's record of 12 poles in a single campaign. Álvaro Bautista delivered another strong timed lap to claim fifth on tomorrow’s grid, directly leading factory Ducati duo Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden.

Andrea Dovizioso endured a late crash en route to eighth place on the timesheets, with Héctor Barberá and Karel Abraham trailing closely. Just behind, Britain’s Cal Crutchlow narrowly missed out on a top ten spot, having to settle for 11th place.