Casey Stoner gives the traditional thumbs up after claiming pole at Mugello.Casey Stoner claims pole for the Italian MotoGP at Mugello 2007 champion Stoner breaks lap record in final qualifying Ben Spies of United States and Italian Marco Simoncelli also on front row
(CNN) -- Australian Casey Stoner broke the lap record at Mugello to claim pole for Sunday's Italian MotoGP.
The Honda rider recorded a time of one minute 48.034 seconds to better the mark set just three hours earlier in practice by defending world champion Jorge Lorenzo of Spain.
Stoner powered to his new mark as all the riders had half an eye on the uncertain weather conditions to take his fifth pole of a dominant season.
He will be joined on the front row by last weekend's Dutch Grand Prix winner Ben Spies of the United States and home rider Marco Simoncelli.
"We made one change on the bike from this morning and it worked out really well," Stoner told the official MotoGP website.
We made one change on the bike from this morning and it worked out really well--Casey Stoner
2007 champion Stoner has won four of the seven races this season to take a 28-point lead in the title race over Lorenzo, who was fifth in qualifying Saturday and will start from the second row.
Italian legend Valentino Rossi was caught out by the changeable conditions and could only manage 12th on his Ducati, almost two seconds slower than Stoner, while last years' winner Dani Pedrosa of Spain, was eighth best.
Spain's Marc Marquez, on a Suter, took pole for the Moto2 race.
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