Following heavy rainfall and torrid conditions during qualifying at the eni Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland at the Sachsenring it was Repsol Honda Team’s Casey Stoner who made use of a drying track in the final minutes to snatch pole position ahead of Ben Spies and Dani Pedrosa.

Stoner left it very late to set a time in the high 1.31s, which was just enough to displace Yamaha Factory Racing’s Spies onto second on the grid. Completing the front row is Stoner’s teammate Dani Pedrosa, who had been the pace setter throughout yesterday’s free practice.

Row two is headed by Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Cal Crutchlow, who also pulled some terrific laps out of the bag in the final minutes of qualifying. Yamaha’s joint-championship leader Jorge Lorenzo starts in fifth, and will be hoping for a good start in tomorrow’s race to do battle with Stoner at the front. Lining up next to him is LCR Honda MotoGP’s local favourite Stefan Bradl, who had led the majority of the session, yet still put in a great showing for his home crow in sixth.

Heading up the third row is Ducati Team’s Nicky Hayden, who had been looking like a front row contender in the early part of the session, yet was pushed down the order in the final seconds. Next to him in eighth is Crutchlow’s teammate Andrea Dovizioso after a somewhat subdued qualifying session for the Italian’s standards.

Ducati’s Valentino Rossi is a surprise starter in ninth, as the wet conditions have usually favoured the Italian this season. Power Electronics Aspar’s Aleix Espargaró completes the top ten after a great outing on his ART machine, qualifying as the top CRT bike. Because of the penalty obtained after his crash in the last race in Assen, San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Álvaro Bautista will start tomorrow’s race from the back of the grid.

The tricky conditions caught out many of the riders, which saw San Carlo’s Michele Pirro, Came IodaRacing Project’s Danilo Petrucci, Speed Master’s Mattia Pasini and Pramac Racing Team’s Héctor Barberá crash out. Most of them managed to re-join later in the session and sustained no serous injuries.

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