Moto2: Maiden Moto2 pole for Simon

Going into the closing seconds the Marc VDS team looked set for a one-two on the grid, with Hector Faubel having just knocked his team-mate Scott Redding off the top spot.

But then fellow Suter rider Simon (Aspar) outshone them both, blasting in a 1m46.139s lap to beat Faubel by 0.148 seconds and practice pacesetter Redding by 0.195s, with the latter frustrated by traffic delays as he tried to fight back.

Simone Corsi completed the front row on the JiR Motobi.

Former Kawasaki MotoGP rider Anthony West broke into the top ten for MZ for the first time by taking fifth. All the men in the top five achieved their best Moto2 qualifying results to date.

Championship leader Toni Elias (Gresini Moriwaki) had held provisional pole for much of the session, before Redding usurped him. Moments later, Elias lost balance on the bumps at Turn 6 and fell, and while he was able to jump straight back on and continue, his pole challenge was over and he tumbled to sixth ahead of Ratthapark Wilairot and Sergio Gadea.

But Elias still looks set to extend his points advantage tomorrow as his main rival Andrea Iannone is currently in the medical centre after a heavy crash. The sidelined Speed Up rider was left 26th on the grid.

Fonsi Nieto also required medical assistance following an accident, although his time stood for 12th. Arne Tode and Raffaele de Rosa had crashes too, but the latter still managed to take 10th on the grid.

Wild card rider Roger Lee Hayden, brother of Ducati MotoGP star Nicky, was 29th on his series debut.

Pos  Rider                Bike         Time       Gap
 1.  Julian Simon         Suter        1m46.139s
 2.  Hector Faubel        Suter        1m46.287s  + 0.148s
 3.  Scott Redding        Suter        1m46.334s  + 0.195s
 4.  Simone Corsi         Motobi       1m46.358s  + 0.219s
 5.  Anthony West         MZ           1m46.365s  + 0.226s
 6.  Toni Elias           Moriwaki     1m46.368s  + 0.229s
 7.  Ratthapark Wilairot  Bimota       1m46.454s  + 0.315s
 8.  Sergio Gadea         Pons Kalex   1m46.561s  + 0.422s
 9.  Stefan Bradl         Suter        1m46.709s  + 0.570s
10.  Raffaele De Rosa     Tech 3       1m46.739s  + 0.600s
11.  Michael Ranseder     Suter        1m46.821s  + 0.682s
12.  Fonsi Nieto          Moriwaki     1m46.900s  + 0.761s
13.  Yuki Takahashi       Tech 3       1m46.935s  + 0.796s
14.  Claudio Corti        Suter        1m46.942s  + 0.803s
15.  Lukas Pesek          Moriwaki     1m46.959s  + 0.820s
16.  Gabor Talmacsi       Speed Up     1m46.962s  + 0.823s
17.  Thomas Luthi         Moriwaki     1m47.004s  + 0.865s
18.  Jules Cluzel         Suter        1m47.031s  + 0.892s
19.  Roberto Rolfo        Suter        1m47.052s  + 0.913s
20.  Alex Baldolini       ICP          1m47.062s  + 0.923s
21.  Dominique Aegerter   Suter        1m47.075s  + 0.936s
22.  Mike Di Meglio       Suter        1m47.084s  + 0.945s
23.  Yonny Hernandez      BQR          1m47.098s  + 0.959s
24.  Shoya Tomizawa       Suter        1m47.171s  + 1.032s
25.  Vladimir Ivanov      Moriwaki     1m47.224s  + 1.085s
26.  Andrea Iannone       Speed Up     1m47.261s  + 1.122s
27.  Jason Di Salvo       FTR          1m47.302s  + 1.163s
28.  Axel Pons            Pons Kalex   1m47.313s  + 1.174s
29.  Roger Lee Hayden     Moriwaki     1m47.390s  + 1.251s
30.  Kenny Noyes          Promoharris  1m47.514s  + 1.375s
31.  Valentin Debise      ADV          1m47.551s  + 1.412s
32.  Arne Tode            Suter        1m47.581s  + 1.442s
33.  Robertino Pietri     Suter        1m47.751s  + 1.612s
34.  Alex Debon           FTR          1m47.796s  + 1.657s
35.  Ricard Cardus        Bimota       1m47.937s  + 1.798s
36.  Joan Olive           Promoharris  1m48.188s  + 2.049s
37.  Yusuke Teshima       Motobi       1m48.275s  + 2.136s
38.  Mashel Al Naimi      BQR          1m48.421s  + 2.282s
39.  Yannick Guerra       Moriwaki     1m48.905s  + 2.766s
40.  Karel Abraham        FTR