Álex Márquez conquered his second Moto2™ pole position -after the one he secured in Jerez earlier this year-, after lording over the qualifying session. He will be sharing the front row with two Italians, Mattia Pasini (Italtrans Racing Team) and Lorenzo Baldassarri (Forward Racing Team).
The younger Márquez brother pushed from the very start and, while others procrastinated, he put together a blistering 1m 49.408s lap. Despite the remaining 37 minutes of the session, his record remained undisputed and he showed the best pace, with consistent stints lapped at close to pole deserving times, as he had done in the prior practice.
Most riders waited until the dying minutes of the session to push to the limit, especially Pasini, who ended just one tenth short of Márquez’s time, on 1m 49.515s. Baldassarri was third, 6 tenths off the pace. Also Takaaki Nakagami (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) managed a final lap improvement and secured fourth place. He will share the second row with Thomas Luthi (CarXpert Interwetten), second in the overall standings, and Italian Franco Morbidelli (EG 0,0 Marc VDS), who is the current championship leader. Both will fight hard to preserve their gap on Márquez, who is dangerously approaching them in the overall classification.
Among the Spaniards, Jorge Navarro (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2™) finished 8th, Áxel Pons (RW Racing GP) was 9th, and Isaac Viñales (BE-A-VIP SAG Team) closed the top 10. Xavi Vierge (Tech 3 Racing) went down in his last- minute attempt to improve his lap and finished 11th fastest.
Get ready for a gripping Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya Moto2™ race, with Álex Márquez trying to extend his dominance. Will he be able to? The answer, tomorrow as of 12.20 hours.