Moto2: Marquez on pole in Catalunya

By Lisa Lewis

After a low profile start to the weekend Marc Marquez dominated the Moto2 qualifying session and will start his home grand prix at the Catalunya circuit from pole for the CatalunyaCaixa Repsol team, with a time of 1:46.187.

The Spanish star had been rumoured to be suffering from the hand injury he picked up in Le Mans, but his team denied this and revealed his practice performances had been used to try new set-ups and that they had saved his tyres for qualifying, a decision which paid off as he eased to pole.

Fellow Spaniard and championship leader Pol Espargaro briefly troubled Marquez for the top spot, qualifying in second for the Pons 40 HP Tueni team on his Kalex chassis.

Le Mans winner Tom Luthi admitted struggling a little in the heat so was happy to finish third for the Interwetten team and Suter.

Italian rider Andrea Iannone qualified in fourth for the Speed Master team, a strong session for Simone Corsi puts him fifth on the grid for the Came Iodaracing Project, Swiss racer Dominique Aegerter took sixth position for the Technomag-CIP team and Suter.

Scott Redding didn't capitalise on his strong practice performances as much as hoped, qualifying a solid seventh for the Marc VDS team. Toni Elias finds himself in eighth for Mapfre Aspar, Esteve Rabat showed his experience with a steady performance in ninth for the Pons 40 HP Tuenti team and San Marino rider Alex DeAngelis took the final top ten place for the Forward racing team.

Tech3 replacement rider Jordi Torres impressed taking the flag in 11th, he replaces the injured Xavier Simeon. Torres out-qualified his team mate Bradley Smith who finished the session in 13th.

Ricky Cardus produced an unusual crash, hitting the back of Takaai Nakagami he then side Mounted the Japanese riders Italtrans Kalex, entering the gravel trap together. Despite this Nakagami still managed to qualify 12th.

Former championship runner up Julian Simon crashed his Blusens Avintia Suter early in the session , the bike cartwheeled through the gravel and was unusable, leaving him down in 17th.

Last years 125cc champion Nico Terol had a lacklustre qualifying with a late lap moving him up the order slightly to start from 15th for the Mapfre Aspar squad.

British rider Gino Rea continues his Moto2 learning curve, still learning his way around the Gresinis new Suter chassis and also learning the track he qualifies down in 23rd for Sundays race.

Qualifying:

1.Marc MarquezSPA (Suter)1m 46.187s
2.Pol EspargaroSPA (Kalex)1m 46.382s
3.Thomas LuthiSWI (Suter)1m 46.430s
4.Andrea IannoneITA (Speed Up)1m 46.477s
5.Simone CorsiITA (FTR)1m 46.816s
6.Dominique AegerterSWI (Suter)1m 46.844s
7.Scott ReddingGBR (Kalex)1m 46.866s
8.Toni EliasSPA (Suter)1m 47.107s
9.Esteve RabatSPA (Kalex)1m 47.107s
10.Alex De AngelisRSM (Suter)1m 47.115s
11.Jordi TorresSPA (Tech 3)1m 47.239s
12.Takaaki NakagamiJPN (Kalex)1m 47.275s
13.Bradley SmithGBR (Tech 3)1m 47.423s
14.Johann ZarcoFRA (MotoBI)1m 47.427s
15.Nicolas TerolSPA (Suter)1m 47.468s