Moto2 Misano: Zarco grabs pole with record lap

Johann Zarco found pace at the end of the Moto2 qualifying session to snatch pole position from Alex Rins, who had been dominating the Moto2 qualifying at Misano ahead of the San Marino Grand Prix.

The Ajo Motorsport rider secured his sixth pole of the year with a lap of 1m 36.754, sneaking ahead of Rins by just 0.002s but smashing the old lap record by nearly a second as the Moto2 bikes got faster on the resurfaced track.

The Frenchman - a podium finisher at Misano last year - is fresh from another victory at Silverstone and has increased his lead in the championship every round since hitting the top of the standings in Argentina.

The grid sees the top three in the overall standings on the front row, with the Paginas Amarillas HP 40 machine looking set for pole after Rins had set about lowering the lap record with every circuit of the track, only to be beaten to pole by Zarco as the session closed.

Reigning champion Tito Rabat starts third for EG 0,0 Marc VDS after yet another set of close laps.

With only the top three capable of a sub-1m 47s time it was Simone Corsi who was the best of the rest, moving up the timesheets to claim fourth for Forward Racing.

The Italian was narrowly ahead of the Technomag Racing Interwetten bike of Dominique Aegerter, who has been competitive all weekend on his way to fifth.

Hafizh Syahrin also impressed with a best ever qualifying performance for Petronas Raceline Malaysia in sixth, two rows better than he has ever managed before.

Sam Lowes went back to his old suspension settings at Speed Up after practice saw him finish down the order. The British rider improved to seventh, but lost his best lap of the day after exceeding the track limits.

Idemitsu rider Taka Nakagami starts eighth ahead of Jonas Folger in ninth for the AGR Team. Julian Simon completes the top ten times for Italtrans.

There are two wild-cards in Moto2 at Misano with Valentino Rossi's half-brother Luca Marini appearing for The Pons Racing Junior team and old hand Mattia Pasini returning to GP racing for Gresini. They start from 26th and 24th respectively.

Turn ten continued to prove troublesome, with Xavier Simeon the first to fall in the session and finding the gravel there, with Axel Pons struggling too, falling for the third time this weekend and the second time at the now infamous turn.

Alex Marquez also fell in the opening minutes, while Xavi Vierge's Tech3 bike threw him off and then crossed the track twice, zig-zagging along until it hit the barrier.

A fast fall for Ricky Cardus in the final two minutes ended his session abruptly.