Moto2: Barbera beats Simoncelli to pole

The Spaniard set a fastest time of 1:38.047 with six of the 45-minute session still to go, to beat yesterday's provisional pole, set by his Italian rival, by 0.353 seconds.

Simoncelli today could improve on the time he set yesterday only on his very last lap, when with the time already expired he managed to get within eight hundredths of Barbera's time.

Seven tenths further back was Aleix Espargaro, third fastest with his Aprilia, with Yuki Takahashi's Honda completing the front row.

The second row of the grid sees the KTMs of Hiroshi Aoyama and Julian Simon sandwiching Thomas Luthi's Aprilia, followed by the other Aprilia of Hector Faubel.

Aprilia's Mattia Pasini qualified ninth, ahead of KTM's championship runner-up Mika Kallio in tenth, and the Aprilias of Alvaro Bautista and Alex Debon.

Pos  Rider                  Bike     Time
 1.  Hector Barbera         Aprilia  1:38.047
 2.  Marco Simoncelli       Gilera   1:38.124  + 0.077
 3.  Aleix Espargaro        Aprilia  1:38.813  + 0.766
 4.  Yuki Takahashi         Honda    1:38.822  + 0.775
 5.  Hiroshi Aoyama         KTM      1:38.869  + 0.822
 6.  Thomas Luthi           Aprilia  1:38.961  + 0.914
 7.  Julian Simon           KTM      1:39.009  + 0.962
 8.  Hector Faubel          Aprilia  1:39.058  + 1.011
 9.  Mattia Pasini          Aprilia  1:39.130  + 1.083
10.  Mika Kallio            KTM      1:39.165  + 1.118
11.  Alvaro Bautista        Aprilia  1:39.217  + 1.170
12.  Alex Debon             Aprilia  1:39.402  + 1.355
13.  Lukas Pesek            Aprilia  1:39.749  + 1.702
14.  Roberto Locatelli      Gilera   1:39.828  + 1.781
15.  Ratthapark Wilairot    Honda    1:39.875  + 1.828
16.  Fabrizio Lai           Gilera   1:39.963  + 1.916
17.  Eugene Laverty         Aprilia  1:40.317  + 2.270
18.  Karel Abraham          Aprilia  1:40.360  + 2.313
19.  Alex Baldolini         Aprilia  1:40.732  + 2.685
20.  Federico Sandi         Aprilia  1:41.205  + 3.158
21.  Manuel Hernandez       Aprilia  1:41.513  + 3.466
22.  Toni Wirsing           Honda    1:42.620  + 4.573
23.  Simone Grotzki Giorgi  Gilera   1:42.756  + 4.709
24.  Doni Tata Pradita      Yamaha   1:42.992  + 4.945
25.  Imre Toth              Aprilia  1:43.841  + 5.794
26.  Alen Gyorfi            Honda    1:46.446  + 8.399