Jorge Lorenzo took pole in today’s sole 75-minute session. Image: MotoGP.com.

Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo has clinched pole position ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix, finding his feet as conditions improved throughout the course of the altered 75-minute qualifying session.

With no track running on Friday due to inclement weather and subsequent safety concerns, riders and teams were presented with a revised schedule this morning which saw MotoGP qualifying combined into one all-inclusive 75-minute session.

Lorenzo seized the opportunity to register a series of fast laps early and was able to improve upon his own times as the conditions improved, ending the session 0.658s clear of title rival Marc Marquez.

Repsol Honda’s Marquez moved to second on his final flying lap, displacing the factory Ducati of Nicky Hayden who had held the position for some laps prior.

Hayden will start third for tomorrow’s grand prix, his best qualifying place in over 12 months.

Dani Pedrosa heads up the second row on the second factory Honda, with Valentino Rossi fifth and Andrea Dovizioso completing a solid qualifying run for Ducati in sixth.

Alvaro Bautista came back from a considerable crash to register the seventh-fastest time, with Stefan Bradl making his return from injury in eighth and newly-crowned CRT champion Aleix Espargaro ninth.

Damian Cudlin was the best placed of the Aussies in the field, qualifying his Paul Bird Motorsport mount in 23rd, while Bryan Staring battled for pace today, his time aboard the GO&FUN Gresini machine some nine seconds off the leading pace.

Staring’s time falls outside of the 107% cut-off rule for qualifying, meaning he will not start tomorrow’s penultimate grand prix of the season unless officials make an exception based upon the altered track schedule.

Finnish rider Mika Kallio grabbed pole for the Moto2 class which was afforded a bumper one hour setup and qualifying session.

The Marc VDS rider edged out Maptaq SAG Zelos Team rider Xavier Simeon, who was .204 seconds off the leader’s pace, with Johann Zarvo setting the third-fastest time.

Esteve Rabat was the first of the primary title contenders in sixth, with Tuenti HP 40 teammate Pol Espargaro a row back in seventh and Scott Redding making a solid recovery from his wrist fracture sustained at Phillip Island to take 15th.

Australian rider Ant West settled for 18th in the session after running on the verge of the top 10 for some time.

Earlier in the day Alex Rins secured pole position in the Moto3 class by a comfortably 0.923-second margin from Maverick Vinales and Alex Marquez.

Jack Miller was the first of four consecutive Hondas on the timesheets, the Australian rider qualifying his Caretta Technology RTG FTR in a promising fifth, 1.284 seconds off Rins’ pace.

The second Aussie in the third-tier class, Arthur Sissis will start tomorrow’s race from 19th on his Red Bull KTM machine.

2013 MotoGP World Championship
Round 17 – Motegi, Japan

MotoGP qualifying:
1. Jorge LORENZO 1m53.471
2. Marc MARQUEZ 1m54.129
3. Nicky HAYDEN 1m54.539
4. Dani PEDROSA 1m54.542
5. Valentino ROSSI 1m54.732
6. Andrea DOVIZIOSO 1m55.036
7. Alvaro BAUTISTA 1m55.135
8. Stefan BRADL 1m55.610
9. Aleix ESPARGARO 1m55.719
10. Yonny HERNANDEZ 1m55.998
11. Cal CRUTCHLOW 1m56.058
12. Katsuyuki NAKASUGA 1m56.125
13. Bradley SMITH 1m57.114
14. Colin EDWARDS 1’57.297
15. Andrea IANNONE 1m57.347
16. Danilo PETRUCCI 1m57.540
17. Randy DE PUNIET 1m57.715
18. Hiroshi AOYAMA 1m57.994
19. Michael LAVERTY 1m58.540
20. Luca SCASSA 1m58.802
23. Damian CUDLIN 2m00.982
Bryan STARING 2m02.712

Moto2 qualifying:
1. Mika KALLIO 2m01.248
2. Xavier SIMEON 2m01.452
3. Johann ZARCO 2m01.484
4. Simone CORSI 2m01.501
5. Rafid Topan SUCIPTO 2m01.733
6. Esteve RABAT 2m02.103
7. Pol ESPARGARO 2m02.166
8. Dominique AEGERTER 2m02.169
9. Danny KENT 2m02.255
10. Mattia PASINI 2m02.405
11. Alex MARIÑELARENA 2m02.475
12. Sandro CORTESE 2m02.487
13. Thomas LUTHI 2m02.610
14. Gino REA 2m02.773
15. Scott REDDING 2m02.985
16. Tetsuta NAGASHIMA 2m03.037
17. Jordi TORRES 2m03.051
18. Anthony WEST 2m03.172
19. Ricard CARDUS 2m03.232
20. Julian SIMON 2m03.365

Moto3 qualifying:
1. Alex RINS 2m09.387
2. Maverick VIÑALES 2m10.310
3. Alex MARQUEZ 2m10.313
4. Luis SALOM 2m10.656
5. Jack MILLER 2m10.671
6. Isaac VIÑALES 2m10.881
7. Niccolò ANTONELLI 2m11.011
8. Hiroki ONO 2m11.057
9. Jonas FOLGER 2m11.223
10. Sena YAMADA 2m11.518
11. Jasper IWEMA 2m11.644
12. Hyuga WATANABE 2m11.719
13. Zulfahmi KHAIRUDDIN 2m11.793
14. Toni FINSTERBUSCH 2m11.954
15. Brad BINDER 2m11.973
16. Jakub KORNFEIL 2m12.090
17. Niklas AJO 2m12.236
18. Miguel OLIVEIRA 2m12.287
19. Arthur SISSIS 2m12.335
20. Alexis MASBOU 2m12.375

Click here for detailed results