Marco Simoncelli claimed his first MotoGP pole position at Catalunya today by beating Casey Stoner by 0.016secs in a late Qualifying lap.

Stoner had dominated for much of the session, but Simoncelli managed to record a 1m 42.413s time on his second to last lap of the session.

Jorge Lorenzo also left it late, managing to claim third position after a late charge saw him bump Ben Spies down to 4th Position.

Valentino Rossi managed to take his best ever qualifying position so far on a Ducati by taking 7th, and Alvaro Bautista was notable for getting Suzuki in the top 10 for the first time this season in a qualifying session by taking 9th.

Karel Abraham suffered a lowside crash at the very start of the session and walked off with an injured wrist - fortunately he was able to re-join the session later and was deemed fit to race. Tomorrow’s grid is already depleted with the absence of Colin Edwards and Dani Pedrosa, and losing another rider would have stripped it down to only 14 starters.

MotoGP Qualifying times from Catalunya:

1 Marco SIMONCELLI San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’42.413
2 Casey STONER Repsol Honda Team 1’42.429
3 Jorge LORENZO Yamaha Factory Racing 1’42.728
4 Ben SPIES Yamaha Factory Racing 1’42.742
5 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Repsol Honda Team 1’42.749
6 Cal CRUTCHLOW Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’43.202
7 Valentino ROSSI Ducati Team 1’43.223
8 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Team 1’43.228
9 Alvaro BAUTISTA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1’43.447
10 Hector BARBERA Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP 1’43.656
11 Hiroshi AOYAMA San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’43.734
12 Randy DE PUNIET Pramac Racing Team 1’43.764
13 Loris CAPIROSSI Pramac Racing Team 1’44.068
14 Toni ELIAS LCR Honda MotoGP 1’44.510
15 Karel ABRAHAM Cardion AB Motoracing 1’45.661

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