After Lorenzo saw off the early challenge of Honda’s Marc Marquez, it was Yamaha teammate Valentino Rossi – at his home circuit – who threatened his pole time in the closing minutes.

In the end, Lorenzo extended his advantage to 0.348s with a stunning final effort, becoming the only rider to lap under the 1m32s barrier.

“I’m very proud of this qualifying,” said Lorenzo. “I make a very good laptime with the first tyre – I did this [1m]32.0s that I was very happy, that was an unbelievable laptime really – so I said, okay, with the second tyre, I will risk a little bit more than normal.

“I rode much more aggressive than normal, braking very hard, very aggressive, moving on the bike, risking a lot, maybe too much – especially in the fast corners in sixth gear, the bike was moving so much.

“So I thought – okay, maybe I'm too aggressive, I'm gonna be slower than the previous lap. When I crossed the finish line, I see the 31.8s, I was delighted, completely delighted, very proud.

“Probably I rode one of my best lap ever – maybe the best lap of my life.”