Lorenzo on pole, de Angelis in hospital

MOTEGI — San Marino rider Alex de Angelis was airlifted to hospital after a heavy crash during final practice at the Japanese MotoGP Saturday before a dramatic qualifying session saw Jorge Lorenzo grab pole from title rival Valentino Rossi. The 31-year-old de Angelis was conscious and breathing before being taken to hospital, with his Ioda Racing ART Team Aprilia later issuing a statement saying the rider had fractured five vertebrae and three ribs. The rider crashed midway through FP4 leading to the session being red-flagged at the Motegi circuit and was taken by helicopter to the Dokkyo Hospital in Mibu. The incident led to a delay in a breathless qualifying session where Lorenzo edged Yamaha teammate Rossi to take pole position by just 0.081 seconds. Lorenzo trails Rossi by 14 points in the championship with only four races to go this season but looks set to cut that deficit on a track he has shown his fondness for by coming out top in all the sessions this week. The Spaniard used a two-stop strategy, after some front end issues on his first run, to record a best time of 1 min 43.790 seconds to deny the Italian, who had gone top moments before with his best lap. It was Lorenzo’s fourth pole of the year and Yamaha’s first one-two qualifying performance of the season. “I made the maximum and it is a good lap time,” double MotoGP champion Lorenzo told reporters. Rossi, bidding for his seventh MotoGP world title, was optimistic he could better Lorenzo come race day. “I was confident for the qualifying. I did a good strategy (and) I was in the right place. I am very positive looking forward for tomorrow. I can be competitive with Jorge,” he said. Defending champion Marc Marquez was third for Honda in 1:44.216 to round out the front row. The Ducati duo of Andrea Dovizioso and Andrea Iannone finished fourth and fifth for Sunday’s race with Marquez’s Honda team mate Dani Pedrosa completing the second row. Romano Fenati set a new lap record to grab his first career pole position in the Moto3 category, while championship leader Danny Kent will start from sixth. The Italian on a KTM clocked 1min 56.484sec in the qualifying round Saturday, breaking Kent’s 2014 record of 1min 56.555sec. Fenati will be joined in the front row by Miguel Oliveira, also on a KTM, and Jorge Navarro on a Honda, who came in 0.173sec and 0.236sec later respectively. Frenchman Johann Zarco took his seventh pole position of the season in the Moto2 category. The Kalex rider marked 1min 50.339sec in qualifying Saturday and will be joined in the front row by Thomas Luthi and Jonas Folger. Zarco became the Moto2 world champion Friday ahead of the race after his closest rival Tito Rabat pulled out due to an injury.