Moto2 Catalunya: Fastest lap fires Marini to pole position
Luca Marini put in the most perfect lap of the Barcelona circuit to date in the intermediate class to claim pole position for the Moto2 Catalunya Grand Prix.
The Sky Racing VR46 Kalex riding championship leader ran both in tandem with his team mate and solo before finding a perfect line. That lead to a new lap record of 1m 43.355s, claiming his sixth pole position in style.
His closest rival was Jorge Navarro, who once again impressed on the HDR Heidrun Speed Up after making some bike changes. The Spaniard came through Q1 and used his time on track to clean up his lap and claim second, finishing just 0.181s off the pole pace.
Sam Lowes had good speed coming into qualifying after having topped practice for EG 0,0 Marc VDS. He remained consistent but could not quite match Marini’s record pace, so he will line up third.
Fabio Di Giannantonio continued his return to form, climbing to fourth on the second Speed Up, marking a great day for the team.
Jake Dixon also continued his upward trajectory - the British rider gave Petronas a lot to think about as they look to next year as he claimed fifth after coming through Q1- his best qualifying to date.
Joe Roberts also graduated from Q1 to Q2. The U.S. rider held onto his seventh place grid position as the final fast laps came to their conclusion for Tennor American Racing.
Roberts was just faster than his teammate Marcos Ramirez who will sit in eighth on the grid and was the best of the rookies.
Xavi Vierge finished his day ninth on the second Marc VDS bike after a duel on track with Italtrans man Enea Bastianini.
Remy Garnder (Onexox TKKR SAG Team) had enough pace for the top ten . However, the Australian can’t keep his position - he has been handed a six place grid penalty for crashing under yellow flag conditions in FP2.
Bastianini finished eleventh in the session but will move up due to the demotion.
Tom Luthi (Liqui Moly Intact GP), Augusto Fernandez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo), Marcel Schrotter (Liqui Moly Intact GP) and Nicolo Bulega (Federal Oil Gresini) all also move forward on the grid on Sunday.
Aron Canet just missed out on moving into the second session , his fifth in Q1 translates to qualifying 19th .
Piotr Biesiekirski again replaces Jesko Raffin at NTS RW Racing. He was closer to the rest of the field in terms of time but still lines up last on the grid.
