Le Mans Moto2: Takaa Nakagami grabs maiden pole
Takaaki Nakagami claimed the first pole position of his world championship career in Moto2 qualifying at a wet Le Mans
All the action was crammed into the opening few minutes, as the rain that had loomed all weekend finally arrived in earnest for the Moto2 session, which began slightly late due to the knock-on delays from the red flag in MotoGP's pre-qualifying practice.
An initial shower eased, suggesting there might be more dry time after all, but the clouds opened properly soon afterwards and the field headed to the pits to wait out the remaining half-hour.
Nakagami was on top with a 1m38.508s for Italtrans when the rain came and was duly able to secure pole by 0.350 seconds over Marc VDS' Scott Redding.
Johann Zarco completed the front row on his home ground, and had the track to himself for quite a while in the wet when he came out to entertain the local crowd.
Jerez winner and championship leader Tito Rabat headed Xavier Simeon and Nico Terol on row three.
Pre-season title favourite Pol Espargaro was left in seventh, followed by Tom Luthi, Mattia Pasini and Mika Kallio.
Pos Rider Team/Bike Time Gap 1. Takaaki Nakagami Italtrans Kalex 1m38.508s 2. Scott Redding Marc VDS Kalex 1m38.858s + 0.350s 3. Johann Zarco Ioda Suter 1m39.187s + 0.679s 4. Esteve Rabat Pons Kalex 1m39.193s + 0.685s 5. Xavier Simeon SAG Kalex 1m39.296s + 0.788s 6. Nicolas Terol Aspar Suter 1m39.333s + 0.825s 7. Pol Espargaro Pons Kalex 1m39.355s + 0.847s 8. Thomas Luthi Paddock Suter 1m39.437s + 0.929s 9. Mattia Pasini Forward Speed Up 1m39.543s + 1.035s 10. Mika Kallio Marc VDS Kalex 1m39.558s + 1.050s 11. Anthony West QMMF Speed Up 1m39.571s + 1.063s 12. Mike di Meglio JiR Motobi 1m39.599s + 1.091s 13. Dominique Aegerter Technomag Suter 1m39.657s + 1.149s 14. Toni Elias Avintia Kalex 1m39.721s + 1.213s 15. Jordi Torres Aspar Suter 1m39.891s + 1.383s 16. Marcel Schrotter SAG Kalex 1m39.994s + 1.486s 17. Sandro Cortese Intact Kalex 1m40.011s + 1.503s 18. Julian Simon Italtrans Kalex 1m40.013s + 1.505s 19. Alex de Angelis Forward Speed Up 1m40.020s + 1.512s 20. Ricard Cardus Forward Speed Up 1m40.173s + 1.665s 21. Louis Rossi Tech 3 1m40.281s + 1.773s 22. Kyle Smith Avintia Kalex 1m40.284s + 1.776s 23. Yuki Takahashi Tady Moriwaki 1m40.369s + 1.861s 24. Axel Pons Pons Kalex 1m40.487s + 1.979s 25. Hafizh Syahrin Petronas Kalex 1m40.498s + 1.990s 26. Danny Kent Tech 3 1m40.613s + 2.105s 27. Steven Odendaal Arginano Speed Up 1m40.665s + 2.157s 28. Ratthapark Wilairot Gresini Suter 1m40.746s + 2.238s 29. Alberto Moncayo Arginano Speed Up 1m40.793s + 2.285s 30. Simone Corsi Forward Speed Up 1m40.815s + 2.307s 31. Gino Rea Rea FTR 1m40.861s + 2.353s 32. Randy Krummenacher Technomag Suter 1m41.222s + 2.714s 33. Doni Tata Pradita Gresini Suter 1m42.036s + 3.528s 34. Rafid Topan Sucipto QMMF Speed Up 1m42.312s + 3.804s
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments