Aragon Moto2: Simone Corsi takes first pole of 2012

The Ioda FTR man left it late, but as the chequered flag flew he stopped the clock at 1m54.343s, enough to give him provisional pole by just over one tenth of a second.

A spate of riders were still out on track however, among them points leader Marc Marquez, who has accounted for seven poles already this year.

The Monlau Suter rider pulled back an early deficit in the third sector and was a genuine threat until a wobble in the final turns disrupted his lap and left him just seventh, his lowest result all year.

Pol Espargaro, Marquez's closest rival in the championship, compounded the damage by stealing second late on, ahead of Andrea Iannone and Claudio Corti.

Jordi Torres, who has only contested selected races this year, wound up fifth. He was second when, with three minutes remaining, he crashed at Turn 13 and brought his session to an early close.

Thomas Luthi, fourth in the championship, was another crasher, although his spill proved far more costly as he could only claim 19th on the grid.

Nico Terol took fifth, while British duo Bradley Smith and Scott Redding will share the third row with Marquez.

Pos  Rider                  Team/Bike              Time       Gap
 1.  Simone Corsi           Ioda FTR               1m54.343s
 2.  Pol Espargaro          Pons Kalex             1m54.534s  + 0.191s
 3.  Andrea Iannone         Speed Master Speed Up  1m54.618s  + 0.275s
 4.  Claudio Corti          Italtrans Kalex        1m54.712s  + 0.369s
 5.  Jordi Torres           Aspar Suter            1m54.787s  + 0.444s
 6.  Nicolas Terol          Aspar Suter            1m54.828s  + 0.485s
 7.  Marc Marquez           Monlau Suter           1m54.877s  + 0.534s
 8.  Bradley Smith          Tech 3                 1m54.899s  + 0.556s
 9.  Scott Redding          Marc VDS Kalex         1m54.925s  + 0.582s
10.  Johann Zarco           JIR Motobi             1m54.993s  + 0.650s
11.  Esteve Rabat           Pons Kalex             1m55.074s  + 0.731s
12.  Mika Kallio            Marc VDS Kalex         1m55.224s  + 0.881s
13.  Takaaki Nakagami       Italtrans Kalex        1m55.235s  + 0.892s
14.  Axel Pons              Pons Kalex             1m55.275s  + 0.932s
15.  Xavier Simeon          Tech 3                 1m55.445s  + 1.102s
16.  Yuki Takahashi         Forward Suter          1m55.445s  + 1.102s
17.  Mike di Meglio         Speed Master Speed Up  1m55.473s  + 1.130s
18.  Alex de Angelis        Forward Suter          1m55.510s  + 1.167s
19.  Thomas Luthi           Paddock Suter          1m55.617s  + 1.274s
20.  Anthony West           QMMF Moriwaki          1m55.875s  + 1.532s
21.  Julian Simon           Avintia FTR            1m55.951s  + 1.608s
22.  Gino Rea               Gresini Moriwaki       1m56.112s  + 1.769s
23.  Dominique Aegerter     Technomag-CIP Suter    1m56.129s  + 1.786s
24.  Alex Marinelarena      Motorsport Suter       1m56.661s  + 2.318s
25.  Marcel Schrotter       SAG Bimota             1m56.695s  + 2.352s
26.  Ratthapark Wilairot    Gresini Moriwaki       1m57.158s  + 2.815s
27.  Steven Odendaal        Arguinano AJR          1m57.299s  + 2.956s
28.  Tomoyoshi Koyama       Technomag-CIP Suter    1m57.370s  + 3.027s
29.  Eric Granada           JIR Motobi             1m57.462s  + 3.119s
30.  Alessandro Andreozzi   Speed Master Speed Up  1m57.925s  + 3.582s
31.  Elena Rosell           QMMF Moriwaki          1m58.367s  + 4.024s
32.  Jesko Raffin           Switzerland GP Kalex   1m59.177s  + 4.834s
33.  Marco Colandrea        SAG FTR                1m59.477s  + 5.134s