Espargaro snatches Mugello pole

Pol Espargaro recovered from a dramatic practice incident to snatch Mugello Moto2 pole position ahead of title rival Marc Marquez.

Pons rider Espargaro required medical clearance to participate in qualifying after being collected by Johann Zarco in a collision at the first corner in final practice.

Although Espargaro showed no ill effects in qualifying, setting a rapid pace throughout, Marquez looked certain to start on pole for the seventh time in nine rounds. The Monlau rider, now confirmed as a member of Honda’s works MotoGP line-up for 2013, was barely headed until the closing moments, when Espargaro burst through the traffic to register a 1m52.369s and grab the top spot away.

Zarco was given a 15-place grid penalty for his incident with Espargaro – and ironically then went on to set the third-fastest time in qualifying, which would have been a career-best for the Frenchman had it stood.

The JIR rider’s demotion moves top local rider Andrea Iannone up to third for Speed Master.

Forward’s Alex de Angelis and Paddock GP’s Thomas Luthi were next up, with Bradley Smith going sixth quickest for Tech 3 before crashing at the end.

Smith was one of several riders to have incidents, along with his team-mate Xavier Simeon, Ioda rider Simone Corsi, Marc VDS Racing’s Mika Kallio, MZ convert Mike di Meglio and Gresini’s Ratthapark Wilairot. All escaped unhurt, although Simeon was in clear discomfort after landing heavily on his back.

Pos  Rider                  Team/Bike              Time       Gap
  1.  Pol Espargaro          Pons Kalex             1m52.369s
  2.  Marc Marquez           Monlau Suter           1m52.438s  + 0.069s
  3.  Johann Zarco           JIR Motobi             1m52.781s  + 0.412s
  4.  Andrea Iannone         Speed Master Speed Up  1m52.835s  + 0.466s
  5.  Alex de Angelis        Forward FTR            1m52.883s  + 0.514s
  6.  Thomas Luthi           Paddock Suter          1m52.946s  + 0.577s
  7.  Bradley Smith          Tech 3                 1m53.029s  + 0.660s
  8.  Scott Redding          Marc VDS Kalex         1m53.059s  + 0.690s
  9.  Esteve Rabat           Pons Kalex             1m53.090s  + 0.721s
 10.  Takaaki Nakagami       Italtrans Kalex        1m53.152s  + 0.783s
 11.  Nicolas Terol          Aspar Suter            1m53.258s  + 0.889s
 12.  Simone Corsi           Ioda FTR               1m53.266s  + 0.897s
 13.  Dominique Aegerter     Technomag-CIP Suter    1m53.319s  + 0.950s
 14.  Yuki Takahashi         Forward FTR            1m53.409s  + 1.040s
 15.  Claudio Corti          Italtrans Kalex        1m53.509s  + 1.140s
 16.  Randy Krummenacher     Switzerland Kalex      1m53.566s  + 1.197s
 17.  Mike di Meglio         MZ                     1m53.672s  + 1.303s
 18.  Max Neukirchner        Kiefer Kalex           1m53.683s  + 1.314s
 19.  Julian Simon           Avintia Suter          1m53.715s  + 1.346s
 20.  Ricard Cardus          Arguinano AJR          1m53.722s  + 1.353s
 21.  Axel Pons              Pons Kalex             1m53.787s  + 1.418s
 22.  Mika Kallio            Marc VDS Kalex         1m53.984s  + 1.615s
 23.  Toni Elias             Aspar Suter            1m54.038s  + 1.669s
 24.  Roberto Rolfo          Technomag-CIP Suter    1m54.164s  + 1.795s
 25.  Gino Rea               Gresini Suter          1m54.513s  + 2.144s
 26.  Xavier Simeon          Tech 3                 1m54.726s  + 2.357s
 27.  Anthony West           QMMF Speed Up          1m54.802s  + 2.433s
 28.  Ratthapark Wilairot    Gresini Suter          1m54.890s  + 2.521s
 29.  Alessandro Andreozzi   Speed Master Speed Up  1m55.267s  + 2.898s
 30.  Marco Colandrea        SAG FTR                1m55.374s  + 3.005s
 31.  Massimo Roccoli        SAG Bimota             1m55.518s  + 3.149s
 32.  Eric Granado           JIR Motobi             1m56.337s  + 3.968s
 33.  Elena Rosell           QMMF Moriwaki          1m57.081s  + 4.712s
 

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/real-world-racing/3rdparty/espargaro-snatches-mugello-pole

Brian Gubby AndrÈ Guelfi Miguel ¡ngel Guerra Roberto Guerrero