Marc Marquez beats Stefan Bradl to Sachsering Moto2 pole

After running outside the top 10 at first, Marquez surged to the front and then held off a late challenge from Bradl with a 1m24.733s lap - 0.129 seconds ahead of the points leader.

Aleix Espargaro (Pons) sat on provisional pole for a spell before ending up third, ahead of Gresini's Michele Pirro.

Julian Simon announced his return after breaking his leg at Catalunya with a superb fifth place on the grid on the Aspar Suter.

Home rider Max Neukirchner looked set to fight for pole for a while for MZ, before sliding to 11th as others improved.

Practice pacesetter Yuki Takahashi crashed early and had to miss most of the session, leaving him 13th.

Other incidents included a massive crash for Jules Cluzel, who immediately got up but required assistance from the marshals while in the gravel, and a late fall for Bradley Smith. The Briton had managed to keep upright through a wild gravel trip early in the session, but was not so successful when he went off again on his final lap.

Pos  Rider                Team/Bike            Time       Gap
 1.  Marc Marquez         Catalunya Suter      1m24.733s
 2.  Stefan Bradl         Kiefer Kalex         1m24.862s  + 0.129s
 3.  Aleix Espargaro      Pons Kalex           1m24.900s  + 0.167s
 4.  Michele Pirro        Gresini Moriwaki     1m25.085s  + 0.352s
 5.  Julian Simon         Aspar Suter          1m25.189s  + 0.456s
 6.  Alex de Angelis      JIR Motobi           1m25.223s  + 0.490s
 7.  Xavier Simeon        Tech 3               1m25.235s  + 0.502s
 8.  Mika Kallio          Marc VDS Suter       1m25.271s  + 0.538s
 9.  Bradley Smith        Tech 3               1m25.304s  + 0.571s
10.  Yonny Hernandez      Blusens FTR          1m25.310s  + 0.577s
11.  Max Neukirchner      MZ                   1m25.379s  + 0.646s
12.  Thomas Luthi         Paddock Suter        1m25.434s  + 0.701s
13.  Yuki Takahashi       Gresini Moriwaki     1m25.443s  + 0.710s
14.  Pol Espargaro        Speed Up FTR         1m25.453s  + 0.720s
15.  Randy Krummenacher   Kiefer Kalex         1m25.456s  + 0.723s
16.  Jordi Torres         Aspar Suter          1m25.465s  + 0.732s
17.  Jules Cluzel         Forward Suter        1m25.495s  + 0.762s
18.  Esteve Rabat         Blusens FTR          1m25.510s  + 0.777s
19.  Axel Pons            Pons Kalex           1m25.515s  + 0.782s
20.  Kenan Sofuoglu       Technomag-CIP Suter  1m25.579s  + 0.846s
21.  Simone Corsi         Ioda FTR             1m25.613s  + 0.880s
22.  Mike di Meglio       Tech 3               1m25.616s  + 0.883s
23.  Scott Redding        Marc VDS Suter       1m25.637s  + 0.904s
24.  Ricard Cardus        QMMF Moriwaki        1m25.723s  + 0.990s
25.  Andrea Iannone       Speed Master Suter   1m25.788s  + 1.055s
26.  Kenny Noyes          Avintia FTR          1m25.806s  + 1.073s
27.  Claudio Corti        Italtrans Suter      1m25.851s  + 1.118s
28.  Dominique Aegerter   Technomag-CIP Suter  1m25.870s  + 1.137s
29.  Alex Baldolini       Forward Suter        1m25.872s  + 1.139s
30.  Valentin Debise      Speed Up FTR         1m25.900s  + 1.167s
31.  Anthony West         MZ                   1m26.130s  + 1.397s
32.  Ratthapark Wilairot  SAG FTR              1m26.211s  + 1.478s
33.  Mattia Pasini        Ioda FTR             1m26.340s  + 1.607s
34.  Robertino Pietri     Italtrans Suter      1m26.482s  + 1.749s
35.  Santiago Hernandez   SAG FTR              1m27.166s  + 2.433s
36.  Steven Odendaal      MS Suter             1m27.591s  + 2.858s
37.  Tommaso Lorenzetti   Castello FTR         1m27.816s  + 3.083s
38.  Mashel Al Naimi      QMMF Moriwaki        1m28.412s  + 3.679s