JEREZ DE LA FRONTERA, SPAIN - MAY 06: Jorge Lorenzo of Spain and Ducati Team rounds the bend during the MotoGp of Spain - Qualifying at Circuito de Jerez on May 6, 2017 in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain. (Photo by Mirco Lazzari gp/Getty Images)

Ducati rider Jorge Lorenzo will start his home Grand Prix, the fourth round of the MotoGP World Championship at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit in Andalusia, from the third row of the grid.

At the end of Saturday afternoon's Q2 session, Jorge had set the eighth quickest time of 1'38.910, around six-tenths of a second away from the best time of polesitter Dani Pedrosa.

In the morning's FP3 run, which was held on a dry track and with an air temperature of 20°, Lorenzo was second fastest behind Pedrosa, thus gaining automatic access into the second qualifying session.

“Overall today's sensations were good and for the first time this season I had a pace that was similar to those riders ahead of me,” Jorge said. “To be honest, in qualifying I hoped to improve on this morning's result a bit, but for some reason I didn't have good grip with the rear tyre and was unable to accelerate well out of the corners.”

“At any rate for me today was one of the best days I have had in this first part of the season from every point of view, and this is really good news for us. It means that we are maintaining good progression and tomorrow we'll see if we can come away with a good result in the race. The most important thing is my consistency and that I feel strong on the bike.”