German Moto2: Acosta holds off Arbolino for pole position
Pedro Acosta found some extra late pace to claim pole ahead of the German Grand Prix, round seven of the championship, at the Sachsenring.
The Red Bull KTM Ajo rider saw his final run, the best lap of the weekend so far at 1m 23.858s enough to hold on as he lowered his own provisional time as he lapped behind a speedy Sam Lowes.
Acosta was the race winner last time out at Mugello.
It was competitive final few minutes with Tony Arbolino slicing time off his own best to climb from third to second, just 0.269s behind his title rival for Elf Marc VDS.
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It sets up the German Moto2 race perfectly with Arbolino proving last time out that he could claim a podium finish from tenth, with the duo now on the front of the grid after the Italian found the qualifying improvements he’d been looking for, for an out and out battle from the off.
He was not alone in finding time in the latter stages of the session with Jake Dixon flying, the Polar Cube GasGas Aspar rider climbing from seventh to snatch up the final front row slot.
Canet bounces back for fourth
On pole just one weekend ago, Aron Canet suffered a huge fall in Friday practice, which saw him sat outside of the top 14 after a wet, slow P2 session. That left him with work to do in a crucial P3 for the rider. Unfortunately for the Pons man, that session was wet following an unscheduled downpour, so a trip through Q1 was necessary.
He needed a last fast run not to get swamped out in that, but moved on to Q2. Always in the groups on track he moved from sxith to second with two minutes remaining, although that time wasn’t enough to hold on to the front row, fourth still marks a comeback from a weekend which could have gone much worse to date.
Alonso Lopez set the early benchmark and was competitive on his way to fifth for MB Connveyors Speed Up, the top non-Kalex rider on the Boscoscuro.
He will be sat next to the rider he took out in Italy, Sam Lowes (the 2022 polesitter), who’s pace made more gains for Acosta than for himself, starting sixth on the second Marc VDS entry.
Somkiat Chantra was the best of the riders to move through Q1, keeping his momentum going for seventh for Idemitsu Honda Team Asia.
Fermin Aldeguer will fill eighth on the second Boscoscuro bike, with Albert Arenas (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and top rookie Sergio Garcia (Pons Wegow Los 40) completing the top ten. Celestino Vietti just missed out with the eleventh best time for Fantic Racing.
Filip Salac was a late faller in the session, which saw him unable to respond, leaving thr QJMotor Gresini rider 13th.
Sean Dylan Kelly made it through to Q2 automatically for the first time with American Racing, he went on to 18th.
What happened in Q1?
Barry Baltus went through, with Canet setting an identical lap time. Chantra and Garcia also benefited in the pull to the line.
That meant Darryn Binder, who opted to sit in the pits, saw his risk not pay off so will line up 19th for Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP.
Ai Ogura pulled that tow train around, effectively helping himself out of the progression places as he finished the session in sixth for 20th on the grid with Idemitsu Honda Team Asia.
Moto2’s German entrant, Lukas Tulovic (Liqui Moly Husqvarna) came close but was shuffled back to seventh (21st) by those final fast laps.
Injuries and replacements
Rory Skinner missed the last race after his contact with Alcoba in Mugello and remains absent at American Racing with a fractured foot. The Scottish rider is replaced by ex-Moto3 regular Carlos Tatay(26th), making his intermediate class début.
Lorenzo Dalla Porta (25th)is back in for Alex Escrig at Forward, after moving to the replacement rider before last weekend in Italy, having started the season at the SAG Team.
Kohta Nozane (Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp) also misses another round, Kasma Daniel (28th)fills in for him again.
Borja Gomez was declared unfit following his turn 8 fall on Friday, after being transferred to hospital for further investigation into his injuries.
