Marc Marquez makes it four Moto2 poles in five races at Brno
Marc Marquez made it three Moto2 pole positions in a row with a scintillating late effort in Czech Grand Prix qualifying at Brno
The 18-year-old Spaniard had battled hard with championship leader Stefan Bradl for the duration of the session, but looked to have been beaten by his rival when the German produced a 2m00.704s lap with two minutes of the session remaining.
Marquez was not done, however, and after finding two major slipstreams during the final minute, was able to lap in 2m00.493s on his Team Catalunya Suter machine - 0.211s quicker than the Kiefer Kalex rider. His lap made it four poles from the last five Moto2 grands prix.
Marquez's late lap knocked Alex de Angelis back to third, and the JIR Motobi rider headed Tomas Luthi's Interwetten Suter and Andrea Iannone's Speed Master Suter - the latter securing his best grid position of the year.
Pons Kalex rider Aleix Espargaro and Idoa FTR's Simone Corsi were next up - the latter frustrating Espargaro's brother Pol during the session after getting in his way.
Completing the top 10 were Corsi's team-mate Mattias Pasini, Claudio Corti's Italtrans Suter and Bradl's team-mate Randy Krummenacher.
The Swiss rider could have been higher up but for a crash in the final five minutes while there were also shunts for Santiago Hernandez and Esteve Rabat.
British duo Bradley Smith and Scott Redding could manage only 16th and 20th places for the Tech 3 and Marc VDS Suter teams respectively.
The worst luck was had by Julian Simon, who crashed his Aspar Suter without even completing a lap. With no spare bike, he did not set a time and will start last.
Pos Rider Team/Bike Time Gap 1. Marc Marquez Catalunya Suter 2m02.493s 2. Stefan Bradl Kiefer Kalex 2m02.704s + 0.211s 3. Alex de Angelis JIR Motobi 2m02.725s + 0.232s 4. Thomas Luthi Paddock Suter 2m02.848s + 0.355s 5. Andrea Iannone Speed Master Suter 2m02.943s + 0.450s 6. Aleix Espargaro Pons Kalex 2m03.461s + 0.968s 7. Simone Corsi Ioda FTR 2m03.497s + 1.004s 8. Mattia Pasini Ioda FTR 2m03.523s + 1.030s 9. Claudio Corti Italtrans Suter 2m03.545s + 1.052s 10. Randy Krummenacher Kiefer Kalex 2m03.606s + 1.113s 11. Jules Cluzel Forward Suter 2m03.627s + 1.134s 12. Dominique Aegerter Technomag-CIP Suter 2m03.662s + 1.169s 13. Kenan Sofuoglu Technomag-CIP Suter 2m03.702s + 1.209s 14. Pol Espargaro Speed Up FTR 2m03.715s + 1.222s 15. Max Neukirchner MZ 2m03.749s + 1.256s 16. Bradley Smith Tech 3 2m03.844s + 1.351s 17. Yuki Takahashi Gresini Moriwaki 2m03.849s + 1.356s 18. Esteve Rabat Blusens FTR 2m03.898s + 1.405s 19. Valentin Debise Speed Up FTR 2m04.005s + 1.512s 20. Scott Redding Marc VDS Suter 2m04.025s + 1.532s 21. Ratthapark Wilairot SAG FTR 2m04.082s + 1.589s 22. Michele Pirro Gresini Moriwaki 2m04.153s + 1.660s 23. Jordi Torres Aspar Suter 2m04.178s + 1.685s 24. Mike di Meglio Tech 3 2m04.320s + 1.827s 25. Robertino Pietri Italtrans Suter 2m04.351s + 1.858s 26. Ricard Cardus QMMF Moriwaki 2m04.488s + 1.995s 27. Axel Pons Pons Kalex 2m04.574s + 2.081s 28. Carmelo Morales Desguaces La Torre 2m04.586s + 2.093s 29. Yonny Hernandez Blusens FTR 2m04.623s + 2.130s 30. Mika Kallio Marc VDS Suter 2m04.823s + 2.330s 31. Alex Baldolini Forward Suter 2m04.915s + 2.422s 32. Kenny Noyes Avintia FTR 2m04.957s + 2.464s 33. Xavier Simeon Tech 3 2m05.220s + 2.727s 34. Anthony West MZ 2m05.713s + 3.220s 35. Steven Odendaal MS Suter 2m05.991s + 3.498s 36. Santiago Hernandez SAG FTR 2m06.349s + 3.856s 37. Mashel Al Naimi QMMF Moriwaki 2m07.505s + 5.012s 38. Tommaso Lorenzetti Castello FTR 2m08.257s + 5.764s
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