Elías notches final Moto2 pole

2010 Moto2 World Champion Toni Elías will start the final race of the season at Valencia from pole position – his third of the year – after topping qualifying on Saturday with a best lap of 1’36.141. The Gresini Racing rider finished the session fractionally over a tenth of a second ahead of German rider Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing), who had been strong in the practice runs.

Joining the duo on the front row will be Andrea Iannone (Fimmco Speed Up) and Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing Team) as they both got within 0.202s of pole. Alex de Angelis (JiR Moto2), Kenan Sofuoglu (Technomag-CIP), Julián Simón (Mapfre Aspar) and Carmelo Morales (Racing Team Germany) will all start from the second row, meaning Iannone and Simón will play out their battle for the runner-up spot in the Championship with the Spaniard lining up directly behind his Italian rival on the grid.

Row three will comprise Karel Abraham (Cardion ab Motoracing), Thomas Lüthi (Interwetten Moriwaki Racing), Jules Cluzel (Forward Racing) and Gabor Talmacsi (Fimmco Speed Up).

Three riders crashed during the session; Mike di Meglio (Mapfre Aspar), Axel Pons (Tenerife 40 Pons) and Raffaele De Rosa (Tech 3 Racing), all of whom walked away from their falls.

Warm up for the Moto2 class starts at 9.10am local time on Sunday, with the race scheduled to get underway at 12.15pm.