De Rosa fronts 250cc grid

Marco Simoncelli and Hiroshi Aoyama both improved on mediocre practice sessions to book spots on the front row of the Phillip Island grid, but it is Raffaele de Rosa who has pole position for Sunday’s race.

The rain played havoc with the opening stages of the 250cc qualifying practice session, with both Alex Debon (Aeropuerto-Castello-Blusens) and Mattia Pasini (Paddock GP Racing Team) crashing on their first laps.

Héctor Barberá (Pepe World) looked to have sealed first place with a lap of 1’33.928, but an exciting final few minutes of qualifying saw De Rosa, Simoncelli and Aoyama form the front row along with Debon.

Debon recovered from his crash to take fourth place, just under 0.5s off De Rosa’s 1’33.389 pace, whilst Barberá will line up in fifth with Mike de Meglio (Mapfre Aspar), Ratthapark Wilairot (Thai Honda PTT SAG) and Pasini making up the remainder of the second row, all within a second of De Rosa.

A determined Pasini came back from his spill in the same spot as Debon to take eighth place, with Héctor Faubel (Honda SAG) and Álvaro Bautista (Mapfre Aspar) completing the top ten.