Moto2: Simoncelli snatches late Brno pole

The Gilera rider produced a breathtaking lap to take pole at the flag, having just made it out of the pits in time to go for a final flying lap after switching tyres late on.

Even then he still had to negotiate Alex Debon, on a fast lap himself, to take the top spot away from points leader Aoyama.

Barbera, who had set the pace for much of the weekend, was third quickest having produced his own fastest lap on his final attempt while running in the same gaggle of bikes as Aoyama.

Debon was fourth ahead of 125cc champion Mike di Meglio who was fastest of the Aspar riders after team-mate Alvaro Bautista crashed entering the stadium section in similar style that of Valentino Rossi earlier.

The Spaniard ended up qualifying eighth behind veteran rider Roberto Locatelli and Mattia Pasini.

Raffale De Rosa and Karel Abraham completed the top ten.

Pos  Rider               Bike       Time
 1.  Marco Simoncelli    Gilera     2m01.611s
 2.  Hiroshi Aoyama      Honda      2m01.961s + 0.350s
 3.  Hector Barbera      Aprilia    2m02.064s + 0.453s
 4.  Alex Debon          Aprilia    2m02.386s + 0.775s
 5.  Mike Di Meglio      Aprilia    2m02.426s + 0.815s
 6.  R.Locatelli         Gilera     2m02.543s + 0.932s
 7.  Mattia Pasini       Aprilia    2m02.561s + 0.950s
 8.  Alvaro Bautista     Aprilia    2m02.748s + 1.137s
 9.  Raffaele De Rosa    Honda      2m02.768s + 1.157s
10.  Karel Abraham       Aprilia    2m02.811s + 1.200s
11.  Hector Faubel       Honda      2m02.899s + 1.288s
12.  R.Wilairot          Honda      2m02.921s + 1.310s
13.  Thomas Luthi        Aprilia    2m02.932s + 1.321s
14.  Jules Cluzel        Aprilia    2m02.997s + 1.386s
15.  Lukas Pesek         Aprilia    2m03.596s + 1.985s
16.  Shoya Tomizawa      Honda      2m03.951s + 2.340s
17.  Alex Baldolini      Aprilia    2m04.100s + 2.489s
18.  Balázs Németh       Aprilia    2m05.493s + 3.882s
19.  Axel Pons           Aprilia    2m06.350s + 4.739s
20.  Valentin Debise     Honda      2m06.571s + 4.960s
21.  Bastien Chesaux     Honda      2m07.088s + 5.477s
22.  Imre Toth           Aprilia    2m07.130s + 5.519s
23.  Vladimir Leonov     Aprilia    2m08.362s + 6.751s
24.  Aitor Rodriguez     Aprilia    2m08.600s + 6.989s