MISANO, Italy (AFP) — Australian world champion Casey Stoner took pole position under searing heat at the San Marino Grand Prix here on Saturday.
Ducati rider Stoner secured his seventh pole in a row ahead of world championship leader Valentino Rossi and Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo in third.
Stoner led qualifying throughout almost the entire session until Lorenzo twice bettered his top effort.
But the Australian pulled a stunning lap of 1min 33.378sec out of the bag in the final few minutes to take pole by more than half a second.
And that despite having a fracture in his hand, which Stoner said had held him back a little.
"I'm not able to do the number of laps I like doing," he complained about his practice sessions.
"Everything was going quite well in the morning but I struggled a little bit in the afternoon session.
"The bike I had the quickest time on this morning didn't work in the afternoon."
Stoner needs to win to keep his championship hopes alive as he sits 50 points behind Rossi in the standings, due to crashing out of the last GP in Brno, Czech Republic.
Victory for Rossi on Sunday would draw him level with Italian great Giacomo Agostini's 68 victories in the top class in Moto GP.
But the popular Italian Fiat Yamaha rider, who was born just 10km away in Tavullia, said the heat was a problem.
"This weather is a lot better for going to the beach than to the race track," he joked. "I think we're in the wrong place!
"But it's better like this than at other races where we always have a lot of rain.
"I did a good job in qualifying. Second position is good for tomorrow. I had a problem in the second sector, in some corners I wasn't fast enough.
"But I have done some good work on the set-up and hope tomorrow I hope I'll be faster."
Lorenzo claimed a front row place for the first time since Portugal in the third GP of the season.
But he said a top five finish was still his aim for Sunday's race.
"Stoner and Valentino are going very fast, especially Stoner," he said. "To beat Stoner tomorrow will be difficult, my aim is to finish in the top five."
Spaniard Hector Barbera took a surprise pole on an Aprilia in the 250cc category ahead of championship leader Marco Simoncelli.
Finland's Mika Kallio, second in the title race, will start a disappointing 10th on the grid.
In the 125cc division reigning champion Gabor Talmasci of Hungary took his third pole position in a row ahead of British teenager Bradley Smith.
World championship leader Mike Di Meglio of France finished down in sixth.
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