Moto2: Bradl takes another Moto2 pole
Stefan Bradl followed up his pole-to-flag Qatar Moto2 victory with another pole position for the second round at Jerez
The German broke clear of an extremely close battle that had earlier seen him repeatedly swap the top spot with Marc Marquez - and head a four-bike group covered by just 0.065 seconds for a while.
But a late 1m42.706s took Kiefer Kalex rider Bradl out of his rivals' reach, putting him half a second in front at that stage, before Gresini's Yuki Takahashi narrowed the gap to 0.282s as he improved to second.
Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Suter) and Marquez (Catalunya Suter) - who had been the other two members of the ultra-close pack - will start third and fourth, with 125cc champion Marquez wondering what he might have achieved had he not crashed at the first corner eight minutes from the end.
Tech 3's Bradley Smith took a very encouraging fifth on the grid for only his second Moto2 start, ahead of ex-MotoGP man Alex de Angelis (JiR).
Michele Pirro, Aleix Espargaro, Claudio Corti and Julian Simon completed the top 10.
Regular frontrunner Scott Redding could only manage 13th after an early accident. Valentin Debise had the most serious-looking crash of the session when he fell at Turn 3 and seemed to be entangled in his bike for a while, but he immediately walked away unscatched.
Pos Rider Team/Bike Time Gap 1. Stefan Bradl Kiefer Kalex 1m42.706s 2. Yuki Takahashi Gresini Moriwaki 1m42.988s + 0.282s 3. Thomas Luthi Interwetten Suter 1m43.288s + 0.582s 4. Marc Marquez Catalunya Suter 1m43.332s + 0.626s 5. Bradley Smith Tech 3 1m43.500s + 0.794s 6. Alex de Angelis JiR Motobi 1m43.613s + 0.907s 7. Michele Pirro Gresini Moriwaki 1m43.615s + 0.909s 8. Aleix Espargaro Pons Kalex 1m43.676s + 0.970s 9. Claudio Corti Italtrans Suter 1m43.687s + 0.981s 10. Julian Simon Aspar Suter 1m43.766s + 1.060s 11. Andrea Iannone Speed Master Suter 1m43.782s + 1.076s 12. Kenan Sofuoglu Technomag-CIP Suter 1m43.860s + 1.154s 13. Scott Redding Marc VDS Suter 1m43.897s + 1.191s 14. Mika Kallio Marc VDS Suter 1m43.935s + 1.229s 15. Dominique Aegerter Technomag-CIP Suter 1m44.024s + 1.318s 16. Jules Cluzel Forward Suter 1m44.054s + 1.348s 17. Valentin Debise Speed Up FTR 1m44.087s + 1.381s 18. Simone Corsi Ioda FTR 1m44.188s + 1.482s 19. Ricard Cardus QMMF Moriwaki 1m44.375s + 1.669s 20. Axel Pons Pons Kalex 1m44.478s + 1.772s 21. Esteve Rabat Blusens FTR 1m44.521s + 1.815s 22. Yonny Hernandez Blusens FTR 1m44.532s + 1.826s 23. Alex Baldolini Forward Suter 1m44.593s + 1.887s 24. Kev Coghlan Castello FTR 1m44.637s + 1.931s 25. Kenny Noyes Avintia FTR 1m44.648s + 1.942s 26. Javier Fores Aspar Suter 1m44.692s + 1.986s 27. Pol Espargaro Tuenti Speed Up FTR 1m44.722s + 2.016s 28. Randy Krummenacher Kiefer Kalex 1m44.755s + 2.049s 29. Mike di Meglio Tech 3 1m44.921s + 2.215s 30. Anthony West MZ 1m45.037s + 2.331s 31. Ratthapark Wilairot Thai Honda FTR 1m45.103s + 2.397s 32. Xavier Simeon Tech 3 1m45.158s + 2.452s 33. Raffaele De Rosa G22 Moriwaki 1m45.170s + 2.464s 34. Mattia Pasini Ioda Project FTR 1m45.184s + 2.478s 35. Robertino Pietri Italtrans Suter 1m45.314s + 2.608s 36. Max Neukirchner MZ 1m45.578s + 2.872s 37. Santiago Hernandez SAG FTR 1m45.613s + 2.907s 38. Steven Odendaal MS Suter 1m46.342s + 3.636s 39. Mashel Al Naimi QMMF Moriwaki 1m46.896s + 4.190s 40. Lukasz Wargala G22 Moriwaki 1m48.892s + 6.186s
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