Lorenzo takes pole for decisive Valencia MotoGP

Jorge Lorenzo's chance of overtaking Valentino Rossi to win the MotoGP world title in Sunday's final race of the season at the Cheste racetrack in Valencia improved drastically when he took pole position in Saturday's qualifying session.

"I think it was the best qualifying lap of my lie," said Lorenzo after qualification, Xinhua reported.

Lorenzo, who rides for the Yamaha team together with Rossi, goes into the race seven points behind Rossi in the riders' championship, but the Italian will start Sunday's race in last place on the grid as a result of the incident which saw him apparently kick Marc Marquez off his bike during the Malaysian MotoGP a fortnight ago.

Lorenzo will be followed on the grid by Marquez and Marquez's Honda team-mate, Dani Pedrosa, while Aleix Esparago makes it four Spaniards in the top-four places in front of their home fans.

"I would try and repeat it 30 times and it would not happen again. It was perfect, I opened all of the corners with perfect traction and the right rubber on the tires," Lorenzo added.