Moto2 Styria: Canet collects first pole position
Aron Canet continued his upward trajectory as he claimed his first Moto2 pole position at the Red Bull Ring for the Styrian Grand Prix.
The rookie built on his previous best qualifying last week when he was fifth by securing pole in Moto2’s second Saturday session in Austria.
The Openbank Aspar rider set his best of 1m28.787s on his Speed Up bike midway through the session and it remained unmatched to the chequered flag. Canet found most of his advantage in the final sector while his rivals faded.
Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Jorge Martin, who came into qualifying with the best time after breaking the all time lap record in FP3, came closest. His best effort just 0.118s behind his fellow countryman.
Hie teammate Tetsuta Nagashima returned to the kind of form and racecraft that had seen him as early championship leader. The Japanese rider had graduated from Q1 and used his track time to find the limit he could push to - he survived several wobbles on his way to completing the front row of the grid.
Augusto Fernandez was the best of the EG 0,0 Marc VDS riders in fourth. The Spaniard was only just faster than Macro Bezzecchi, with the Sky Racing Team VR46 riders again working together on track. Luca Marini had less success despite his teammates best efforts to tow him around, losing a lot of time in the last section of track. He starts 12th.
Last weekends polesitter Remy Gardner couldn’t double up - an early crash halted his progress for Onexox TKKR SAG Team, though he persevered to climb to sixth.
Tom Luthi will look to keep his better form on the Liqui Moly Intact GP bike going from seventh.
Hector Garzo came through Q1 and immediately fired himself up to second early in the second part of qualifying. The Flexbox HP40 rider continued lapping well, leading him to eighth on the grid.
Jorge Navarro secured ninth for +EGO Speed Up, with Nicolo Bulega doing enough to complete the top ten for Federal Oil Gresini.
Sam Lowes (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) struggled to eleventh and appeared to be feeling the effects of his heavy FP3 fall which saw his bike catch fire. The British rider was sent to hospital for checks between sessions.
Fellow Briton Jake Dixon crashed early in the session, but he too returned to track to set the 13th best time for Petronas Sprinta Racing.
Following his accident last week, Italtrans’ Enea Bastianini was understandably a little off the pace and starts the Styria Grand Prix from 15th.
Garzo’s last lap in Q1 prevented Xavi Vierge from progressing. The Petronas Sprinta rider was pushed back to fifth so will line up 19th on Sunday.
Marcel Schrotter was a front row starter in Austria just last week, this week he sits in 21st.
Lorenzo Baldassarri also failed to progress, the Italian starts 23rd alongside Moto3 champion Lorenzo Dalla Porta in 24th. Their compatriot Fabio Di Giannantonio is 25th.
Alejandro Medina replaces Hafizh Syahrin at Openbank Aspar following his fall last weekend. The MotoE rider starts 29th.
