MotoGP – Simoncelli soars to first pole at Catalunya plus qualifying news from Moto2 and 125cc

MotoGP:

Marco Simoncelli fires his San Carlo Honda Gresini Team to the front of qualifying at the Gran Premi Aperol de Catalunya to take his first pole position of the premier class, in front of Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda) and Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing).

Marco Simoncelli shot into a surprise pole position in the last 30 seconds of qualifying, pulling out a fast lap of 1’42.413 in front of Australian Casey Stoner, who had otherwise lead the entire qualifying session, but was relegated to second . Stoner, who holds both the best pole position time and the fastest lap at the Montmelo track, qualified just 0.016s behind the Italian. Last year’s race winner Jorge Lorenzo completed the first row with a third fastest time of 1’42.728.

Ben Spies was in top form, just missing out on a front-row start by a margin of 0.014s, having held second in the timings with 3 minutes remaining. Spies fronts the second row, ahead of Repsol Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso. Finishing the second row is Cal Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), who had an off track excursion early in qualifying but was able to match his previous best grid position of the season in sixth.

The Ducati Team duo head up the third row, with Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) ahead of Nicky Hayden for the first time this weekend, followed by Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki), who finished fifth here last year and won the 250 race in 2009.

Completing the top ten in the session were Héctor Barberá (Mapfre Aspar) in ninth position followed by Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini), who ran off the track earlier and was not able to better his best qualifying position of the season of tenth.

Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing) had an early crash at the start of the session, and rejoined the session after a medical check to finish in 15th.

Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) will not be participating in this round due to injuries.

Moto2:

Championship leader Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing) set pole position for this weekend’s Gran Premi Aperol de Catalunya. Aleix Espargaró (Pons HP 40) and Yuki Takahashi (Gresini Racing) will join Bradl on the front row for Sunday’s race.

He was 0.114s quicker than Aleix Espargaró in second position, and 0.225s in front of third place qualifier Yuki Takahashi.

Dark clouds threatened but the conditions remained dry, until the final 18 minutes which saw a few big drops hit the track but otherwise held back. Thomas Lüthi (Interwetten Paddock Moto2) missed out on a first row start for the first time this year, and will start in fourth. Marc Márquez (Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol) on the Suter bike will start fifth on the grid with a qualifying time of 1’47.154, followed by Bradley Smith (Tech 3). Smith, who finished in the top three practice times yesterday, had an early end to his qualifying session, crashing out during the final twenty minutes, though fortunately was uninjured.

Mika Kallio (Marc VDS Racing), whose highest grid spot so far this season had been 14th, will start the race from the third row in seventh spot. Current second place rider in the championship, Julián Simón (Mapfre Aspar) will start from eighth place on the third row. Esteve Rabat (Blusens-STX) follows the Fin in ninth, starting from his best grid position this year in ninth.

Jules Cluzel (Forward Racing) heads the fourth row, missing out on a third row start by just 0.030s. He is followed by Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing) and Dominique Aegerter (Technomag-CIP) in twelfth.

Simone Corsi (Ioda Racing Project), who was fastest yesterday and looked promising to land a top three qualifying spot, crashed out of the session in turn 9. He will start the race from 15th position.

Last years Moto2 pole sitter as well as circuit record holder for the Moto2 class, Andrea Iannone (Speed Master), crashed out on his second lap of the session and was only able to reenter the session in the last 2 minutes. His time put him in 22nd position by the conclusion of the session.

125cc:

Bankia Aspar riders Nicolas Terol and Héctor Faubel head up an all Spanish 125cc front row for the Gran Premi Aperol de Catalunya, with Maverick Viñales (Blusens by Paris Hilton Racing Team) in third.

A determined Terol secured his fourth pole position of the 2011 season with a fastest lap of 1’51.281 nearly half a second faster than that of his team-mate Héctor Faubel. Faubel, who topped the times briefly in the last three minutes, couldn’t beat his team mates pace and had to be content with second behind Terol.

Sixteen year-old rookie Maverick Viñales had another impressive qualifying session to join the Bankia Aspar duo on the front row for the Catalunya race, his second third position qualifying result this year. Viñales is the only man to have beaten Terol this year, when he won at the Le Mans race last month.

Johann Zarco (Avant-AirAsia-Ajo) will head the second row in fourth position, after qualifying 0.036s behind Viñales. Completing the second row is Spanish rider Efrén Vázquez (Avant-AirAsia-Ajo) and the German Sandro Cortese (Intact Racing Team Germany).

On the third row is 17 year old Jonas Folger (Red Bull Ajo Motorsport), followed by two more Spaniards, Luis Salom of RW Racing GP and Sergio Gadea (Blusens by Paris Hilton Racing Team) in ninth. Adrián Martín (Bankia Aspar) took the final spot in the top ten.

The highest placed British rider was Danny Kent (Red Bull Ajo Motorsport) who placed 11th and will start on the fourth row. Danny Webb (Mahindra Racing) will start in 14th. Taylor Mackenzie (Phonica Racing), who suffered mechanical problems and missed FP3 was able to make out onto the track but could only manage to qualify in 34th position.

Related articles

• MotoGP – Stoner Dominates An All Honda Top 3 In Catalunya (beyondtheredline.org)
• MotoGP – News from all three top tier classes – Stoner leads all Honda top 3 on French soil (beyondtheredline.org)
• MotoGP – Catalunya Marks The Start Of Intense MotoGP Run (beyondtheredline.org)