Bezzecchi bags maiden Moto2™ pole

Marco Bezzecchi (SKY Racing Team VR46) has sealed his maiden Moto2™ pole position after setting a 1:41.728 in Moto2™ Q2 at the Gran Premio Red Bull de Andalucia. EG 0,0 Marc VDS’ Sam Lowes starts from his second consecutive front row in second as the British rider sits a slender 0.037 from pole position, with Enea Bastianini (Italtrans Racing Team) coming through Q1 to secure third on the grid for Sunday’s race.

As we’ve become accustomed to seeing, it was Bezzecchi and his SKY Racing Team VR46 compatriot Luca Marini who were at the summit from the off with the Italians working well in tandem. Jorge Navarro (Beta Tools Speed Up) upset the SKY VR46 applecart straight after, before Bezzecchi then placed himself at the top of the tree. Bastianini then shot up to P2 to split Bezzecchi and Marini as Lowes and rookie Aron Canet (Openbank Aspar Team Moto2) sitting P5 and P6 after the opening runs.

However, the EG 0,0 Marc VDS rider was on a roll and has his sights set on pole position. Lowes was up on Bezzecchi’s time through the third split but couldn’t quite hold it to the line, taking P2 to go under half a tenth slower than Bezzecchi. Navarro was also looking threatening in the closing stages of Q2 but he too couldn’t quite get the whole lap hooked up, the Spaniard going P4 and just 0.015 off the front row. Marini was then on a good lap on his final run, but the Italian slowed up before the line with little improvements coming elsewhere inside the top 10.

All this means Bezzecchi will lead the Moto2™ riders off the line on Sunday, with Lowes and Bastianini eying the holeshot into Turn 1 in P2 and P3. Navarro will be hoping his luck will change after his Turn 1, opening lap crash at the Spanish GP, he’s joined by Spanish GP winner Marini and last weekend’s polesitter Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo) on the second row.

Canet had another strong showing in P7, the impressive rookie will lead the more experienced Nicolo Bulega (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) and Tom Lüthi (Liqui Moly Intact GP) on the third row, with Lüthi’s teammate Marcel Schrötter rounding out the top 10 having had an off-track excursion at Turn 1 in Q2.

Championship leader Tetsuta Nagashima (Red Bull KTM Ajo) had to settle for P15 in Q2, the Japanese rider recovering from a heavy FP3 crash to take part in qualifying – work to do for Nagashima on Sunday.

Tune in for the Moto2™ race at 12:20 local time (GMT+2) in Jerez as Bezzecchi goes in the hunt for a pole to victory Sunday afternoon.

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