Sam Lowes (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) had a tough weekend on the Riviera di Rimini, but the Moto2™ title contender shone once again at MotorLand as he denied provisional pole sitter Alex Marquez (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS) in the final minutes of qualifying. Marquez, who was fastest in FP3, was 0.054 back on the Brit by the end of the session, with the two men proving the class of the field. Takaaki Nakagami (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) completes the front row in another great showing of pace from the Japanese Dutch GP winner.
Brno victor Jonas Folger (Dynavolt Intact GP) heads up row two, in front of reigning champion and points leader Johann Zarco (Ajo Motorsport). Zarco, who has been on the pace throughout the weekend but not the pacesetter, did qualify well ahead of nearest championship rival Rins - who lines up in P13. FP3 also saw Rins struggle, ending that session in P20 and losing the front end in the final minutes. With only a 3-point gap to points leader and reigning champion Zarco, the Spaniard will be looking to catapult forward off the line.
Lorenzo Baldassari (Forward Racing Team) qualified sixth after his recent Misano win, ahead of second Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS rider Franco Morbidelli. Morbidelli will, however, be forced to drop a place following a penalty for a Friday incident with Leopard Racing's Miguel Oliveira. Tom Luthi will be the man to gain, as the Garage Plus Interwetten rider set the eighth fastest lap in QP.
Axel Pons (AGR Team) had an impressive home qualifying session in P9, with Mattia Pasini (Italtrans Racing Team) completing the top ten.
Moto2™ line up to do battle at 12:20 local time at MotorLand Aragon, with every point and every lap now critical as the title fight closes up and the remaining rounds count down.