Jorge Lorenzo of Spain set himself up to extend his championship lead after grabbing pole position in dominating qualifying for the Dutch MotoGP here Friday. The Fiat Yahaha rider claimed his second consecutive pole and like in Silverstone last weekend, where he went on to win, he will share the front row with France's Randy de Puniet. The 23-year-old rode a best lap of 1min 34.515sec over the 4.542km circuit, taking over two-tenths off his best time from the two free practice sessions. LCR Honda rider de Puniet had lead the session with 20 minutes remaining before falling behind and finishing 0.282sec off Lorenzo's pace with Marlboro Ducati's Casey Stoner in third. “I'm very happy to take my second pole of the season but I feel even more comfortable and confident because I've been first in all three practice sessions, despite the other riders pushing hard during qualifying,” Lorenzo told motogp.com. “I think tomorrow's race could be interesting and of course I want to try to win, but as always the main goal is to finish and take points. I will try to escape but if I can't I will fight for the podium. “We can afford to be very calm because of our lead in the standings but the team and I are still working as hard as we can to keep going at this level - we're not relaxing.” Lorenzo's nearest rival for the title, Repsol Honda's Andrea Dovizioso, clocked the sixth fastest time in a tight qualifying session that saw the top ten inside a second. Rookie Ben Spies, who finished third at Silverstone, finished a season-best fourth on his Tech 3 Yamaha, with Stoner's team-mate Nicky Hayden fifth. Lorenzo will be the favorite to claim his fourth victory in six races in the absence of Italian ace Valentino Rossi, who has broken his leg. Lorenzo's victory at Silverstone last week, his third in five races – which have also included two runner-up spots – took his points tally to 115. Italian Dovizioso is second on 78 and Spaniard Dani Pedrosa is third on 73. Italy's Marco Melandri has been ruled out after suffering a dislocated left shoulder after a crash in the second practice session. Another Italian Andrea Iannone takes pole position in the Moto2 category with Spain's Marc Marquez leading the 125cc cateogry.
