A stunning lap of 1’55.527 beat reigning World Champion Jorge Lorenzo’s 2012 pole position record of 1’55.799 to secure Cal Crutchlow top spot in Brno’s qualifying by well over 0.2s. Crutchlow started Q2 brimming with confidence after a best lap of 1’56.156 saw him also set the fastest time in free practice. His sixth lap of the 15-minute session was a record-breaking stunner, the 27-year-old improving by over 0.6s to secure him a second premier class pole position after he claimed top spot in qualifying at Assen in June.

Afterwards he stated, “It has not been an easy weekend while we have been working on improving the bike, but in every session we have progressed and got faster. I felt really good on that lap and to set the circuit best lap is a great achievement for the whole team to be proud of.”

“I feel this is more of a true pole as Jorge wasn’t in Assen, but this time it feels great to be fastest with everybody on track. I am looking forward to the race and the objective is to finish on the podium like last year.”

Brno was the scene of Crutchlow’s maiden MotoGP podium one year ago and he will start tomorrow’s 22-lap race with optimism that he can register a fifth podium in the 2013 World Championship. Crutchlow’s record-breaking exploits showed once again the high level of the Tech 3 package and today saw another fantastic performance from his teammate Bradley Smith. The rookie equalled his best ever qualifying result by taking a well deserved sixth position.

via MotoGP