Fiat Yamaha Team rider Jorge Lorenzo made it an incredible three poles from three MotoGP starts with another masterful qualifying display in Portugal this afternoon. Estoril was one of only two circuits on the calendar at which the outstanding rookie had never before claimed a pole position, but he put that behind him in impressive style today to smash the previous record by nearly half a second.

After changeable weather conditions yesterday, today was a much more settled affair and the sunny conditions allowed the riders to vastly improve on yesterday's lap times this morning, with Lorenzo finishing second fastest. Towards the end of this afternoon's session the chase for qualifying times got underway and the Spaniard's first Michelin qualifying tyre saw him take provisional pole.

He then went on to improve on both of his next qualifying runs, despite dropping time in the middle section on his second tyre when briefly caught behind a slower rider. On his final soft tyre he produced an inch-perfect lap of 1'35.715 to seal a hat-trick of MotoGP pole positions and the 29th of his Grand Prix career in total.

Lorenzo's team-mate Valentino Rossi also had a good afternoon and will line up on the outside of the front row tomorrow, with Dani Pedrosa in between the Fiat Yamaha pair, whilst Yamaha Tech 3 riders Colin Edwards and James Toseland, on his first visit to the track, take fifth and sixth spots to make it four Yamaha riders in the top six.

"Each pole position has felt like a dream and I can't believe I am here again! I am very proud to have a record like this and in fact I'm especially happy to have qualified in front here because this track has always been quite difficult for me and I've never been on pole at it before. Our race pace is quite good and now the aim for tomorrow will be to make the most of my starting position, stay at the front and hopefully fight for the win.

It's going to be a hard race and there are many strong riders, but I am looking forward to it. Our aim is to try to win but if that's not possible then the podium will be okay; it's still only my third race and I am still learning all the time! Anyway, I feel good on my bike and tyres, the team have done a great job and now we just have to cross our fingers for good weather tomorrow!"

"Once again it's been another very exciting qualifying session to watch this afternoon and Jorge has done another fantastic job. We made some small changes from yesterday to improve our base set-up and today we've had a fast and consistent race pace.

Then this afternoon Michelin gave Jorge the chance to fly and he took full advantage! It's great to be on pole as it gives us the best chance at the start and we will do our very best to maximise this chance to produce a good result tomorrow."

Valentino Rossi made a welcome return to the front row of the grid for the first time this year in Portugal this afternoon, qualifying third aboard his Fiat Yamaha M1. It was the first time the 29-year-old has qualified on the front row since making the switch to Bridgestone tyres and it puts him in a good position from which to attempt a repeat of his victory here five months ago.

Times tumbled in this morning's free practice and Rossi continued to improve his race setting, finishing the morning's work in fourth position. This afternoon he continued in the same fashion, topping the time sheets for the first half of the session.

In the later battle for qualifying tyres Rossi set his best time of 1'36.199 with ten minutes still on the clock and, with his young team-mate Jorge Lorenzo on pole it looked like being a Fiat Yamaha one-two before the party was spoiled by Dani Pedrosa pipping Rossi to second in the closing minutes.

"I'm really happy! It's very important to be on the first row here and now we can think about trying to win tomorrow. We've made some big steps forward with Bridgestone and considering that every time we use the qualifying tyre it's still a bit like a test, it's a great achievement to be here. Today my bike and tyres worked very well and I felt confident and strong.

We have a good setting and I can ride how I want to, which is great fun as well! Now I really hope that we can have a good race tomorrow. The weather is a worry and we will have to wait until last thing to make our final tyre choice, but we have some good ideas.

Lorenzo and Pedrosa are looking very strong but I think we are not so far and we have a chance to be there tomorrow. There is a great atmosphere in our box and everyone is looking forward to tomorrow's challenge."

"We've had four very good practice sessions over the last two days and now to start on the front row is a big achievement from everyone. We have a good race pace as well and so it seems that everything is coming together for us. Valentino has a good feeling from his bike and tyres and we're really looking forward to the race now. It's going to be difficult as usual but we will hope to stay at the front and fight for the victory."

Tech 3 Yamaha duo Colin Edwards and James Toseland will start next to each other on the second row of the grid for tomorrow's 28-lap Portuguese MotoGP race in Estoril. American Edwards missed out on preserving his 100 per cent front row starting record in 2008 by just 0.090s as he finished a qualifying session dominated by Yamaha and Michelin with the fifth best time.

Toseland, who will stay with the Tech 3 team for 2009 after agreeing an extension to his current contract in Portugal, was just one place further back with a best time of 1.36.790 securing him sixth. Despite his lack of circuit knowledge at the challenging Estoril track, Toseland still beat a host of more experienced rivals to help Yamaha claim four of the top six places on the grid.

Both Edwards and Toseland go into tomorrow's race with heightened expectations as they prepare to debut Yamaha's pneumatic valve YZR-M1 motor. The engine is a significant improvement on the long Estoril start/finish straight, while also helping with mid-range acceleration compared to the spring valve engine they used in Qatar and Jerez.

"My first qualifier was decent and my second and third felt better. But on my last tyre I made a couple of little mistakes and that costs you a lot of time. I was pushing extra hard knowing I'd lost time and just ended up making another mistake trying to claw it back. But I was less than a tenth off the front row and while it would have been good to keep that record going I'm still happy, especially for Yamaha.

To have four of us in the top six is how it should be when you don't have chatter, you have a chassis with feel and confidence from the front. And now we've got the new engine too I can't wait for the race. I've gone for a bit of a different tactic with Michelin this weekend for the new motor and thanks to them because it is working. I've gone for outright traction more than momentum to carry lots of corner speed. I'm not so worried about being the fastest guy mid-corner now because it was no good when somebody in front of me was acting like a roadblock.

Now I've concentrated on corner entry, getting the bike turned and getting the power to the ground on the exit to use that extra performance from the motor. I'm still doing better lap times with that tyre so it is obviously working."

"I'm a second off pole and still sixth which just shows how fast the boys at the front are going because normally a second covers all of us. I'm really pleased to get on the second row and it is a massive boost for me knowing I can come to a track I've never even seen before and be competitive near the front.

Considering the first session was damp, and I crashed at the start of the second session, with the track time I have had a second row start is a great effort from the team. I had a small problem with my first qualifier on the left side but the other two worked really well and thanks to Michelin for that.

I just made a few small mistakes because to go two seconds quicker on the qualifying tyres on a track I don't know is a big ask. Everything happens so much faster and I was braking too late and approaching the entry too fast.

Against these guys you can't afford to make a mistake. I'm looking forward to the race with the new engine. It is a big improvement and if I had the old engine here,coming off the last corner would have been difficult. It wouldn't have mattered how hard I worked on the rest of the lap, I'd have been passed on the straight.

But coming out now in third gear I can feel how much power the new engine has got. Today also showed what a great job Yamaha has done with four of us in the top six."

1 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha ESP 1'35.715

2 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 1'35.948

3 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 1'36.199

4 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 1'36.266

5 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 1'36.289

6 James Toseland Yamaha GBR 1'36.790

7 Andrea Dovizioso Honda ITA 1'36.998

8 Randy De Puniet Honda FRA 1'37.223

9 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 1'37.253

10 John Hopkins Kawasaki USA 1'37.346

11 Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 1'37.664

12 Loris Capirossi Suzuki ITA 1'37.786

13 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 1'37.843

14 Toni Elias Ducati ESP 1'38.561

15 Anthony West Kawasaki AUS 1'38.775 

-Yamaha Racing -