Catalunya Moto2: Magnificent Dixon on pole, Arbolino not through Q1

The lead changed hands early in the session with the Q2 graduates initially leading away before Ai Ogura set a solid benchamark for the Moto2 riders to chase down as  qualifying got underway in Catalunya.

Jake Dixon responded. A fresh tyre in after heading into the pits first, the Asterius GasGas Aspar rider was back out on track behind Pedro Acosta.

The British rider had already topped P3 in style, proving he had pole pace by gapping the field by four tenths to move into Q2 with the top time.

That pace with a marker to chase, his tyre issues solved and the best line of anyone through the fourth sector saw him claim pole, his first of the season with a lap of 1m 43.983s.

Dixon repaid the favour and lead Acosta around but the Championship leader had his lap ebhind cancelled for exceeding track limits.

The positioning of the lead trio in the championship on the grid hands Dixon some hope to cut into the lead, with Acosta back in ninth and Tony Arbolino way back in 20th.

The Acosta/Dixon pairing was not the only unusual duo on track circulating together with Aron Canet swapping time at the front of his pairing with Manuel Gonzalez. That allowed him to gain slipstream and set the second best lap for Pons Wegow Los40 - 0.390s behind Dixon’s pole time.

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Ai Ogura was fastest after Friday’s sessions, with long runs promising great race pace for Sunday. The Idemitsu Honda Team Asia rider spent much of his time on track solo and was still fast enough for third to complete the front row.

Running with Canet helped Gonzalez (Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 MAster Camp) up to fourth. Albert Arenas got in a solid lap early on, then second to Ogura. That helped him hold onto fifth at home for Red Bull KTM Ajo.

Fermin Aldeguer was the best of the riders not running Kalex machinery, bringing his Beta Tools Speed Up Boscoscuro around with the sixth best time with very little seperating himslf and fellow countryman Arenas.

Aldeguer, in turn, just beat the time of his teammate Alonso Lopez, who was seventh. Sergio Garcia was by far the best of the rookies as the only one to make a Q2 appearance after moving through Q1 to place eighth on the second Pons bike.

Acosta fails to take advantage in ninth

Arriving to qualifying having dropped from second overall to seventh in P3, the final practice session indicated that the championship leader may not have an easy ride. Eleventh after the pit stop before the final run for position, instead of instantly seeking to take advantage of the absence in the session of Arbolino he instead lead around Dixon, pulling him to pole while Acosta was fifth on the same lap.

Without his nearest rival on track the pressure should have been off. The Spaniard instead piled it on himself, leading to cancelled laps and ninth on the grid for the Red Bull KTM Ajo rider.

Barry Baltus, another Q2 graduate, completed the top ten as he continued to improve for Fieten Olie Racing.

Sam Lowes last lap was another that was cancelled, stopping the progression his red sectors indicated, placing him eleventh, but as the top Elf Marc VDS rider.

Celestino Vietti was the polesitter and winner of the Catalan race last year, he arrived with a win from the front row after a turnaround in form in Austria seemed to have marked a comeback for the Italian.

Sitting thirteenth after a late improvement on Friday, he did the same again in P3 to move through sixth but failed to build again - fifteenth was the best the Fantic rider could manage in Montmelo.

Arbolino puts himself under pressure as he fails to move on from Q1

Tony Arbolino has struggled with qualifying for much of the season and Friday was an indicator that there could be more of the same in Spain, with a late push for eleventh. His best slipped down the timesheets in P3, and although the Elf Marc VDS rider improved his time he finished the session a lowly 21st for a trip through Q1.

His last lap of that session laid the #14’s issues out - pushing hard, his Kalex looked unstable, with him needing to bail out as a lack of grip saw his bike begin to buck and slide, his hand going up in frustration.

That left him unable to respond ad the clock ticked down, pushed back to 20th as others in Q2 picked up the pace with better luck with track position and improved grip.

What happened in Q1?

Aside from the Arbolino drama, the session saw several riders capable of automatic progression to the second session in need of a strong lap to move on with Somkiat Chantra (12th) pulling out one great lap to progress, with Garcia also through in second. Filip Salac (13th) and Barry Baltus found something late on despite their frustrations to move on.

That saw Bo Bendsneyder (Pertamina Mandalika SAG), who set the early benchmark pushed back to fifth in the session, for 19th on the grid.

Salac was seventh and behind Arbolino so his move up saw the Italian pushed backa place further.

Rory Skinner continues the tricky move sideways from BSB to Moto3 and placed eleventh in the session for 25th on the grid with American Racing.

Injuries and Replacements

Darryn Binder misses the round after suffering a fractured vertebra in his crash in front of Sam Lowes at the last round. The South African is replaced by Senna Agius (21st) at Liqui Moly Intact GP.

Pertamina Mandalika SAG have a rider absent with Mattia Rato(26th) filling in for Taiga Hada.

Alex Escrig is also absent and has Yeray Ruiz (30th) keeping his seat warm at Forward Racing.