Valencia Moto2: Surprise pole for Corsi as Fernandez falls
Simone Corsi brought MV Agusta their second consecutive pole at Valencia after securing the top spot of the grid ahead of the Moto2 Valencia Grand Prix, the final race of the 18 round championship.
Moving through from Q1 after shadowing Joe Roberts with the top time, the MV Agusta Forward racing rider emulated the success Stefano Manzi brought the team at the Ricardo Tormo circuit last season by next following Augusto Fernandez in Q2 to find the fastest lap of 1m 34.956s and snatch up pole position.
It marks Corsi’s first time filling the top slot on the grid since the Aragon round of the 2012 championship.
In an incredibly tight session it was Celestino Vietti who came closest to the Roman’s time, finishing just a slim 0.049s slower for Sky Racing Team VR46 after his final run.
The final spot on the front row went to Fernandez, who had Corsi for company for the entire session as he chipped away at his time to take third for Elf Marc VDS.
Fabio Di Giannantonio fought back on his Federal Oil Gresini machine after having his timesheet topping lap cancelled for exceeding track limits to take fourth on his next attempt.
That lap saw him move ahead of home rider, rookie Raul Fernandez. The Red Bull KTM Ajo rider needs to take all the risks to reduce his points deficit to his team-mate. Pushing hard the Spaniard showed his intent by leading FP3, with the pair running around on track together.
Staying close to his rival again, he put in one final push to gain places over Gardner on the grid. It proved to be a move too far as the Spaniard slipped off and into the gravel. The rookie attempted to get his bike back on track but could do nothing to stop himself losing places as the final minutes played out.
Gardner, who comes in to the final race weekend with a 23 point advantage in the only championship to go to the wire, picked up a few positions on his last run, but did not take full advantage of Fernandez’s fall. Climbing to eighth from twelfth, he can finish as low as 13th in the race if Fernandez is wins and still take the title.
They are split on the grid by Tom Luthi (Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team), who bows out of world championship racing with sixth after moving through from the first qualifying session with the second best time behind Corsi.
Aron Canet is also between the pair in seventh for Inde Aspar after a solid performance. The Spaniard will be the top Boscoscuro rider on the grid.
Jorge Navarro chipped away at his lap to claim ninth for Termozeta Speed Up, with Sam Lowes completing the top ten on the second Marc VDS entry. With Moto2 so close the tenth best time was still just 0.223s shy of pole with the top 17 all within a second of the pole lap.
One time title hopeful Marco Bezzecchi faded to eleventh as he struggled to find the minor improvements needed on the second Sky entry.
Tetsuta Nagashima keeps Lorenzo Dalla Porta’s seat warm for him at Italtrans one last time this season. He starts 15th after going straight to Q2.
Hector Garzo only just missed out on moving into the second qualifying session, shuffled back to fifth on the timesheets he will line up 19th for Flexbox HP40.
Other Q2 regulars also failing to make it through to included Garzo’s team-mate Stefano Manzi who will start 20th, Jake Dixon, who could only manage a time strong enough for 23rd on the grid for Petronas Sprinta racing and Somkiat Chantra, who will fill 25th for Honda Team Asia.
Ekky Dimas Pratama returns to the paddock for a wildcard ride at Ricardo Tormo. He was 29th in Q1 with only Barry Baltus behind him after he set no lap time following an electrical issue.
Ai Ogura is not racing. In the paddock on crutches, he was declared unfit not to take part in the Valencia grand prix after sustaining a foot fracture last week. He is not replaced at Idemitsu Honda Team Asia.
