Valencia Moto3: Jonas Folger grabs last-gasp pole
Jonas Folger captured his second grand prix pole with a last-gasp effort in qualifying for the Moto3 season finale at Valencia
The 19-year-old Aspar rider, who was also on pole at Aragon earlier this year, joined forces with Miguel Oliveira's Monlau Suter-Honda for a final flying effort as the chequered flag flew.
Both men helped spur the other on, duly capturing first and second respectively at the death.
Their late improvements denied Luis Salom a maiden pole, the 21-year-old having jumped more than three tenths of a second clear with six minutes of the session to run.
Folger and Oliveira also pushed 2012 champion Sandro Cortese down to fourth, the first time since Silverstone in June that the Ajo KTM rider has not started on the front row.
He will line up alongside his once-title rival Maverick Vinales and Efren Vazquez.
Vinales had set the pace for much of the session, threatening to capture his sixth pole of the year and his first since his acrimonious spat with his Avintia team.
He was unable to get out in the crucial final 10 minutes however, and was therefore helpless to respond as he was gradually bumped down to fifth.
Danny Kent, Niccolo Antonelli and Luis Rossi completed the third row, with Rossi just shy of eight tenths slower than Folger.
Pos Rider Team/Bike Time Gap 1. Jonas Folger Aspar Kalex-KTM 1m41.263s 2. Miguel Oliveira Monlau Suter-Honda 1m41.316s + 0.053s 3. Luis Salom RW Kalex-KTM 1m41.441s + 0.178s 4. Sandro Cortese Ajo KTM 1m41.506s + 0.243s 5. Maverick Vinales Avintia FTR-Honda 1m41.774s + 0.511s 6. Efren Vazquez Laglisse FTR-Honda 1m41.828s + 0.565s 7. Danny Kent Ajo KTM 1m41.952s + 0.689s 8. Niccolo Antonelli Gresini FTR-Honda 1m42.045s + 0.782s 9. Louis Rossi Germany FTR-Honda 1m42.078s + 0.815s 10. Alessandro Tonucci Italia FMI FTR-Honda 1m42.194s + 0.931s 11. Romano Fenati Italia FMI FTR-Honda 1m42.241s + 0.978s 12. Alex Marquez Ambrogio Suter-Honda 1m42.380s + 1.117s 13. Adrian Martin Laglisse FTR-Honda 1m42.461s + 1.198s 14. Jakub Kornfeil Ongetta FTR-Honda 1m42.476s + 1.213s 15. Brad Binder RW Kalex-KTM 1m42.497s + 1.234s 16. Hector Faubel Laglisse FTR-Honda 1m42.560s + 1.297s 17. Zulfahmi Khairuddin Ajo KTM 1m42.698s + 1.435s 18. Alex Rins Monlau Suter-Honda 1m42.799s + 1.536s 19. Arthur Sissis Ajo KTM 1m42.804s + 1.541s 20. Luca Amato Aspar Kalex-KTM 1m42.974s + 1.711s 21. Juan Francisco Guevar Wild Wolf BST FTR-Honda 1m43.003s + 1.740s 22. Niklas Ajo TT MotionKTM 1m43.011s + 1.748s 23. Isaac Vinales Ongetta FTR-Honda 1m43.175s + 1.912s 24. Alan Techer Technomag-CIP TSR-Honda 1m43.419s + 2.156s 25. Jack Miller Caretta Honda 1m43.430s + 2.167s 26. Philipp Oettl HP Kalex-KTM 1m43.692s + 2.429s 27. Toni Finsterbusch Germany Honda 1m43.722s + 2.459s 28. Giulian Pedone Ambrogio Suter-Honda 1m43.971s + 2.708s 29. John McPhee Caretta KRP Honda 1m44.478s + 3.215s 30. Josep Rodriguez FGR Honda 1m44.502s + 3.239s 31. Armando Pontone Ioda 1m44.693s + 3.430s 32. Luigi Morciano Ioda Italia 1m44.778s + 3.515s 33. Kenta Fujii Technomag-CIP TSR-Honda 1m44.893s + 3.630s 34. Danny Webb Mahindra 1m44.933s + 3.670s 35. Miroslav Popov Mahindra 1m45.082s + 3.819s
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