Moto2 Misano: Bagnaia eases to third straight pole position
Francesco ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia made the most of the track at its best early in the session to take pole position for the third race in a row ahead of the Moto2 Grand Prix at Misano.
The Italian will be looking to make the most of a home advantage after setting the best time of the weekend - a 1m37.121s – early on during qualifying as he aims to strengthen his Moto2 championship lead.
The Sky Racing Team VR46 rider is just three points ahead of main rival Miguel Oliveira and will be eager to take up the opportunity at Misano after the Red Bull KTM Ajo rider dropped down to ninth after a crash in the session.
Bagnaia is joined on an all-Kalex front row by Marcel Schrotter, who had shown front row pace in all the practice sessions before qualifying just 0.210s off while Mattia Pasini claimed third place for Italtrans.
Fabio Quartararo pushed his Speed Up to the limit for fourth and is joined on row two by Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Brad Binder in fifth alongside after moving up from 13th on his final run. Jorge Navarro, who has produced impressive gains on his Gresini machine, to take sixth place.
Luca Marini set the seventh best time on the second Sky entry ahead of Alex Marquez who starts eighth for EG0,0 Marc VDS.
Oliveira was lucky to hold on to ninth as top rookie Joan Mir also found late pace in the closing seconds but ended the session just shy of the front three rows leaving him tenth on the other Marc VDS entry.
Pons HP40’s Lorenzo Baldassarri dropped one spot despite crashing twice while the other riders still circulated and will start 13th. Remy Gardner (Tech 3) and Dominique Aegerter (Kiefer Racing), who also fell in quick succession in the closing stages , with Gardner slipped to 19th while Aegerter stayed 14th.
British rider Sam Lowes (Swiss Innovative Investors) found progress hard to come by and will slot into 15th on the grid.
Early falls hampered the progress of both Simone Corsi who starts 21st and Danny Kent who had an extended stop in the pits which left him 31st while Niki Tuuli crashed out in the latter stages of qualifying.
Wildcard entries Sheridan Morais (Willi Race Racing Team) and Xavi Cardelus (Team Stylobike) will start from the back of the grid after qualifying 33rd and 32th respectively.
