Jorge Lorenzo said that today couldn’t have gone any better as he stormed to back-to-back MotoGP pole position after breaking the Misano qualifying lap record.

The Factory Ducati man looked in good form coming into the qualifying session and wasted little time in laying down a marker by posting a 1'31.763 with a medium front tyre.

After coming in to pit and change bikes, Lorenzo went back out and went even further under the lap record to complete a 1'31.629 nearly three tenths ahead of second placed Jack Miller.

Happy with his first lap time on the medium front, Lorenzo was delighted to claim his first pole position on a Ducati in Italy.

“It couldn’t have gone any better,” said the five-time World Champion.

“To be so fast here in Misano, with a Ducati that normally struggles here, but not this Ducati, because we have a very complete bike. This makes me extremely proud and happy.

“Especially because of the 31.6 but also the first lap time, the 31.7 was unbelievable. I was delighted and this gave me more confidence to push even more with a different tyre because we changed it to the soft one.

“We have a good feeling, even in race pace; the bike is working very well having have the test here one month ago. This helps us compared to the teams weren’t there. So today was a fantastic qualifying and we enjoyed it.”

Lorenzo has enjoyed different types of victories this season the Ducati. In Mugello and Barcelona, Lorenzo escaped from the front early. Last time out in Austria, Lorenzo had to battle with Marquez for the victory. Lorenzo said that he is predicting a tough race and tyres will be key.

“For sure tough, long and hot. It will be very hot tomorrow,” he said. “On a shorter track its always very tough physically, because we are going to do a lot of laps, 27 I think.

“So it will be very demanding on the tyres. We still don’t know which tyre will be the best one for the conditions because the track is improving on the grip and this helps a little bit the soft, but maybe its too soft. So the decision of the tyres will be very important tomorrow. In any case, with both tyres we are fast, competitive and constant and we are quite prepared for it.”

Despite enjoying a perfect qualifying session, there was a heated moment in the middle of the session for Lorenzo after he got animated in the box before his final run. When asked about it, Lorenzo had a joke at his own expense and explained it was regarding tyre selection.

“There was no more tension that the usual Lorenzo style,” said Lorenzo with a laugh.

“The thing today was there was a practice where I did no laps, so we could save more tyres for qualifying. With a short track we decided to have a three-tyre strategy but we had to use both bikes, as we didn’t have three soft front tyres.

“We decided to use the medium for the first try out and in case this medium gave me good feelings, maybe we can use another medium because we were ready to go medium, soft, soft. But in case the medium was good, maybe we can change the plan. So I was doubting and the first lap was so great and I was thought that the medium was better than the soft so I said to change them for the third try out in the second bike, not the first one.

“But then when I tried the soft one even if my lap was not good because I made some mistakes, I felt better with the soft one. So I told them to change again the plan.”