While Lorenzo only took fifth on the grid, his teammate Rossi went on to top the session with a lap just 0.016s slower than Andrea Iannone's lap record last year.

The 37-year-old recorded his benchmark time riding in Vinales' slipstream, and Lorenzo reckons that was the only way he could have taken pole - and that getting a tow was always his plan.

"My strategy was to be alone, to be as fast as possible," said the three-time MotoGP champion.

"Other riders were good to search or to wait for somebody, and looks like in the case of Rossi and Vinales it was not just quality, it was some strategy that they had.

"I make three lap times very similar and for example Rossi, until the last lap, the 1m36.5s, was not so fast but in the end he follows Vinales and improves one second."

Lorenzo reckons Rossi and Vinales, who will be teammates at Yamaha next year, met too often on track for it to be a coincidence.

"Well, if it's coincidence, the coincidence repeated five or six times," said Lorenzo. "It's difficult to have so many coincidences, but it could be, who knows."

"Four or five riders have similar pace"

Lorenzo added he expects tomorrow's race to be a close one, with several riders having similar pace.

"[Andrea] Iannone was quick through the whole weekend, it doesn't surprise me to see him in second," the Spaniard said. "I expected him even in pole position.

"Vinales is fast and consistent, let's see if the Suzuki can keep this pace in the race for so many laps.

"[Marc] Marquez is also very close, so I think four or five riders have similar pace and it will be a fun race tomorrow."

Additional reporting by Oriol Puigdemont