(CNN) -- MotoGP leader Jorge Lorenzo hopes he can overturn Honda's qualifying dominance for Saturday's Assen TT race after setting the third fastest time behind Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa.
The Spaniard holds a 25-point advantage over polesitter Stoner after winning the last three races in motorcycling's elite class.
World champion Stoner recovered from a morning crash to deny Honda Repsol teammate Pedrosa first place on the grid.
"I tried my best in the last lap of qualifying but I made a little mistake in the last chicane on braking and lost a few tenths," 2010 world champion Lorenzo said on the MotoGP website.
"I was surprised at Casey's last lap; it was fantastic and so fast and Dani was also very close to him. We have a good position for tomorrow on the front row and we have a good race pace and I'm confident with the bike so I'm happy.
Honda's world champion Casey Stoner won 10 of the 17 completed races in MotoGP last season, including the finale in Valencia. He is hoping to retain his Qatar race title in Sunday's season opener.
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"Qualifying is one thing but the race is another, tire choice will be important for the race."
Stoner, who has announced he will retire at the end of this season, claimed his third pole position of 2012.
"This morning was probably one of my biggest crashes, which is saying something! The crash really knocked the wind out of me, I hurt my head, neck, wrist, knee and shoulder -- it was a bad one for sure," he said.
"The team did a really great job, they kept their heads down even when I wasn't riding to my full potential or the bike's full potential and when we were struggling to get the rear tire to work, they didn't give up.
"Then when we came back onto the soft rear tire for the first time since FP1, the bike had much more feeling and we were able to put together a fantastic lap and put it on pole. As far as race pace goes, we're still struggling and we need to work on this and make some decisions before the race."
The 26-year-old Australian, who also won the world title in 2007 with Ducati, has triumphed in two of the six races so far and was second last time out in Britain.
Pedrosa, who is third in the standings 39 points behind his compatriot Lorenzo, was edged out by just 0.115 seconds.
Lorenzo's teammate Ben Spies won the race last year, but will start sixth on the grid on Saturday.
"Qualifying was a frustrating experience. We tried a setting this morning and went backwards, so the first bit of qualifying we tried a modified setting from yesterday which again wasn't working so well," the American said.
"We went back to yesterday's set up with a minor change but only got one lap in, which turned out to be my fastest lap. Unfortunately one of the CRT bikes got in the way on my qualifying lap. I know they are out there trying to do their thing as well so it's difficult."
German rookie Stefan Bradl was fourth for LCR Honda in his best qualifying performance, while Britain's Cal Crutchlow was fifth and his Yamaha Monster tech 3 teammate Andrea Dovizioso was seventh.
Alvaro Bautista, who won his first pole at Silverstone this month, will start eighth ahead of Ducati's former world champions Nicky Hayden and Valentino Rossi.
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Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo finished second at Japanese Grand Prix in October -- and second overall as the Spaniard relinquished his world title to Stoner. A finger injury ruled him out of the last three races.
Honda's Andrea Dovizioso will be seeking his first race victory since his maiden win in 2009. The Italian placed third overall last year after registering seven podium placings.
Another Honda rider, Dani Pedrosa, was fourth in 2011 after missing three races due to a fractured collarbone at the French Grand Prix in May. The Spaniard was runner-up to Lorenzo in 2010.
Seven-time world champion Valentino Rossi will seek to improve on a disappointing first season at Ducati, having ended 2011 in seventh place.
American rider Ben Spies was Rossi's replacement at Yamaha's main team last year, and the 27-year-old won a race for the first time in the Netherlands and finished fifth overall.
Rossi's teammate Nicky Hayden was a world champion with Honda in 2006, but finished eighth last year and crashed in the final race. The 30-year-old American is starting his fourth season at the Italian team.
Britain's Cal Crutchlow was a big success in the World Superbike series, but struggled after taking the step up to MotoGP last year with the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team.
Hiroshi Aoyama was the top Japanese rider in MotoGP last year. The 30-year-old finished the season 10th for the San Carlo Honda Gresini team.
Spanish rider Hector Barbera has switched to the Pramac Racing team for 2012 after two years at Ducati, where he finished 12th and then 11th overall.
Young Czech rider Karel Abraham will be embarking on his second season in MotoGP. The 22-year-old was 14th overall for Ducati last year.
The starting grid will be less colorful this year due to the absence of charismatic Italian rider Marco Simoncelli, who died after crashing at the Malaysian Grand Prix in October.
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