Moto2 Germany: Early fast lap pushes Pasini to pole
Full Moto2 qualifying results from Sachsenring
Mattia Pasini used all his race experience to get out on a new tyre and set the pole lap when the track was at its fastest to claim top spot on the grid for the German Moto2 Grand Prix, round nine of the championship.
The lap times were very tight but the Italian and his Italtrans team timed their best run to avoid the worst of the winds and a slowing, slippery track on hot conditions by setting a record lap of 1m23.787s on his fourth lap around Sachsenring, with just seven minutes of the session spent.
It is the first time a Moto2 bike has dipped under the 1m24s barrier at the short German track.
Joining Pasini on an all-Italian, all-Kalex front row are Luca Marini, who after topping FP3, posted his best-ever intermediate class qualifying result in second - just 0.181s slower with his Sky Racing VR46 championship leading team-mate Francesco Bagnaia who was two thousandths behind him in third.
Sam Lowes looked confident and full of race pace as he eased up to fourth while clocking up almost a full race run for Swiss Innovative Investors.
He is joined on row two by Pons HP40 rider Lorenzo Baldassarri in fifth and Xavi Vierge, who went faster than he did when he topped FP2 yesterday on his way to sixth for Dynavolt Intact GP.
Alex Marquez managed a best of seventh for EG 0,0 Marc VDS following a big practice crash earlier in the day.
Also gracing row three are top rookie Joan Mir in eighth on the second Marc VDS entry and Marcel Schrotter (Dynavolt Intact GP) in ninth and the only German representative in Moto2 ahead of his home race.
Red Bull KTM Ajo and Brad Binder celebrated their new contract together with a time good enough to complete the top ten in a competitive session where all of the top 24 were within a second of the pole time.
Romano Fenati (Marinelli Snipers) was one of few riders to move up in the closing stages, pushing his way up to eleventh from sixteenth as qualifying drew to a close.
Danny Kent was the best of the Speed Up riders in 12th - his team-mate Fabio Quartararo came to Germany off the back of two podium finishes but crashed early in the session and on his return to track could only lap fast enough for 18th.
Miguel Oliveira struggled in qualifying again, out paced by his team-mate Binder he will aim to keep the title in his sights from 15th.
Stefano Manzi came into the session having already gained a three-place grid penalty for causing a crash when he hit Federico Fuligni in FP2 seeing him qualify down in 27th.
Xavi Cardelus returns to wild-card again with Team Stylobike he starts from 32nd - last on the grid.
