Moto2: S Aoyama steals last-minute pole
Honda rider Shuhei Aoyama took a last-minute pole after edging out Andrea Dovizioso in the final seconds of 250cc qualifying
With championship leader Jorge Lorenzo bumping Mika Kallio's time from yesterday off pole with a minute remaining in the session, it looked like the championship leader would be on pole. But with seconds remaining before the chequered flag, Aoyama pipped Lorenzo's time, while Dovizioso almost matched Lorenzo's effort.
However, it was not over yet, with Dovizioso and Aoyama both going again as the chequered flag fell. Dovizioso lowered pole by nearly three-tenths of a second, but just a couple of seconds later Aoyama went even faster with a 1:51.327.
Lorenzo's time was good enough to maintain third position, up from sixth yesterday. Hector Barbera improved his time from Friday but still dropped two places, while Friday's provisional pole sitter Mika Kallio couldn't improve his time and will start from fifth on his KTM.
Hiroshi Aoyama was another rider to suffer, third on Friday but falling to sixth despite improving on his Friday time.
Pos Rider Bike Time 1. Shuhei Aoyama Honda 1:51.327 2. Andrea Dovizioso Honda 1:51.466 + 0.139 3. Jorge Lorenzo Aprilia 1:51.765 + 0.438 4. Hector Barbera Aprilia 1:51.828 + 0.501 5. Mika Kallio KTM 1:52.053 + 0.726 6. Hiroshi Aoyama KTM 1:52.169 + 0.842 7. Julian Simon Honda 1:52.261 + 0.934 8. Yuki Takahashi Honda 1:52.328 + 1.001 9. Alex de Angelis Aprilia 1:52.329 + 1.002 10. Thomas Luthi Aprilia 1:52.441 + 1.114 11. Alvaro Bautista Aprilia 1:52.711 + 1.384 12. Marco Simoncelli Gilera 1:52.825 + 1.498 13. R.Locatelli Gilera 1:52.830 + 1.503 14. R.Wilairot Honda 1:54.124 + 2.797 15. Fabrizio Lai Aprilia 1:54.418 + 3.091 16. Takumi Takahashi Honda 1:54.487 + 3.160 17. Youichi Ui Yamaha 1:54.779 + 3.452 18. Alex Baldolini Aprilia 1:54.914 + 3.587 19. Karel Abraham Aprilia 1:55.032 + 3.705 20. Dirk Heidolf Aprilia 1:55.182 + 3.855 21. Eugene Laverty Honda 1:55.352 + 4.025 22. Aleix Espargaro Aprilia 1:55.451 + 4.124 23. Imre Toth Aprilia 1:55.485 + 4.158 24. Efren Vazquez Aprilia 1:55.690 + 4.363 25. Jules Cluzel Aprilia 1:56.042 + 4.715 26. Yuki Hamamoto Yamaha 1:56.692 + 5.365 27. Dan Linfoot Aprilia 1:56.705 + 5.378 28. Seijin Oikawa Yamaha 1:56.973 + 5.646
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