motogp.com

Jerez 2011 - Moto2 - QP - highlights

Saturday, 2 April 2011

In a fiercely contested qualifying session for the Moto2 Gran Premio bwin de España, it was Championship leader Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing) who set the pace and took his second consecutive pole of the season. Joining him on the front row are Yuki Takahashi (Gresini Racing) and Thomas Lüthi (Interwetten Paddock Moto2).

The German rider claimed only his second pole in Moto2 and will be trying replicate his victory from Qatar, as if he can take the 25 points tomorrow, he will match his father Helmut by winning the Jerez race in the intermediate class. The Viessmann Kiefer Racing rider’s margin over Takahashi was 0.282s and 0.582s over Luthi.

Marc Márquez (Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol) lost the front going into turn one towards the end of the session which brought an abrupt halt to his qualifying at his home race. He will start from fourth, on the second row, and will be looking to score his first points of his Moto2 campaign after crashing in his debut at Qatar in front of his home fans.

The leading British rider was Bradley Smith (Tech 3) who was 18th after practice and finished fifth fastest after qualifying. Alex de Angelis (JiR Moto2) will join him on the second row.

The second Gresini Racing Moto2 rider, Michele Pirro was seventh fastest in his rookie season and will start on the third row. Aleix Espargaró (Pons Racing) was in eighth place, ahead of Claudio Corti (Italtrans Racing) who has had a consistent weekend in the top ten. The final place in the top ten went to Spaniard Julián Simón (Mapfre Aspar).

It was a tough session for Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing) after an early incident saw him spend most of qualifying sat in the garage while his team tried to fix his bike. The 18 year-old made it back onto track with just over ten minutes to spare and will start on the fifth row in 13th place. Scotsman Kev Coghlan (Team Aeroport de Castelló) will start from 24th position, whilst American Kenny Noyes (Avintia-STX) will start one place further back in 25th.

Axel Pons (Pons Racing) was an early crasher in the session but was able to continue. In an action packed hour, other riders to fall included Valentin Debise (Speed Up), Alex Baldolini (Forward Racing) and Randy Krummenacher (GP Team Switzerland Kiefer Racing). Wildcard rider Steven Odendaal (MS Racing) produced the save of the session after nearly coming off his bike in spectacular fashion but managed to keep control of his Suter.

The top 26 riders were covered by under two seconds, with the top nine riders within a second.