Home star Casey Stoner shrugged off a highside fall to claim pole position for ෴his final Australian MotoGP at Phillip Island.

The double world champion had been over one-second clear of the field after final practice and duly romped to pole by 0.517s in qualifying🐎 - his fifth pole in a row at Phillip Island.

Stoner's session was interruptꦺed by a corner-entrꦉy highside after 20 minutes of the hour, at the Honda hairpin.

The cool, cloudy conditions - plus ever present threat of rain - meant soft tyres front🐭 and rear were the standard choice for qualifying, and Stoner's accident occurred on his out-lap on the harder rear.

The back of his RCV kicked ou💟t as he turned into the right-hand hairpin, flicki꧟ng Stoner into the air, but fortunately not damaging his healing ankle.

Typically, the incident 𒐪only seemed to sting Stoner into action. The 2🐷7-year-old returned on his spare bike (and soft tyres) within five minutes and promptly pushed pole 0.8s away from nearest rival Jorge Lorenzo.

World championship leader Lorenzo responded, lapping half-a-second faster than he had gone in practice, but Stoner continue to raise the bar and the final stages began with the Repsol Honda star 0.445s ahead of Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa over o🐬ne-secꦉond adrift in third.

Stoner went on to set the fastest lap of the weekend on his 19th🔥 of 22 laps, with drizzle calling a halt to qualifying two𒉰-minutes early.

The front 🔯row riders - Stoner, Lorenzo (+0.517s) and Pedrosa (+0.952ཧs) - were thus unchanged from practice, but Pedrosa looked to lose ground, never able to seriously threaten Lorenzo.

Yamaha star Lorenzo, who holds a 23-point lead, will be crowned MotoGP champion for a second time on Sunday iꦜf he can gain at least three points more than Pedrosa.

Pedrosa's team-mate Stoner, whose 2012 title hopes were ended by ankle injuries, will be chasing a sixth successive home win 𒆙on Sunday, in his penultimate race before retirement.

The second rowဣ of the grid will be occupied by Cal Crutchlow (Tech 3 Yamaha), who lapped just 0.188s slower than Pedro𒀰sa, plus Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda) and Andrea Dovizioso (Tech 3 Yamaha).

Alvaro Bautista (Gresinii Honda), Valentino Rossi (Ducati) and Randy de Puniet (Aspar Aprilia) forming row three. de Puniet's ninth place🎃 is the best yet qualifying for a CRT rider.

Rossi's factory Ducati team-mate Nicky Hayden completed a top te🔴n, covered by 2.058s.

Local rider Kris McLaren, 🌞drafted into the Avintia Blusens squad in place of the injured Yonny Hernandez , suffered a big highside 20-minute mark and missed the qualifying cut by 0.428s.

Lorenzo's team-mate Ben Spies is out for the rest of the seas🅷on following shoulder surgery to repair damage sustained in last Sunday's Sepang fall.

Qualifying:

1. Casey Stoner
2. Jorge Lorenzo
3. Dani Pedrosa
4. Cal Crutchlow
5. Stefan Bradl
6. Andrea Dovizioso
7. Alvaro Bautista
8. Valentino Rossi
9. Randy De Puniet
10. Nicky Hayden
11. Karel Abraham
12. Aleix Espargaro
13. Hector Barbera
14. Michele Pirro
15. Danilo Petrucci
16. Colin Edwards
17. James Ellison
18. Roberto Rolfo
19. Ivan Silva
20. Kris McLaren