125cc: Espargaro takes Indianapolis pole
Belson Derbi's Pol Espargaro took pole position for the inaugural 125cc Indianapolis Grand Prix
With five minutes of the 30-minutes session to go, the young Spaniard set a time of 1:50.475 that, despite several efforts from his rivals in the dying seconds, could not be beaten.
Three riders looked able to challenge that time at the end, but all slotted into second before being pushed further down. First it was Degraaf Aprilia's Danny Webb, who ended just over half a second behind Espargaro and will ultimately start fourth on the grid.
Then it was the turn of Stefan Bradl, who four minutes earlier saved himself from dropping his Kiefer Aprilia by stomping his right hand on the asphalt and keeping it going. The German will start from third place.
Finally it was championship leader Mike di Meglio taking second on the grid, 0.369 seconds behind pole position.
Midway through the session, the Frenchman suffered a high-side crash, but neither he nor his Ajo Derbi suffered consequences, and he rejoined the track thanks to a push-start from the marshals.
I.C. Aprila's Andrea Iannone will lead the second row, ahead of the Jack&Jones Aprilias of Nicolas Terol and Simone Corsi, and the Ajo Motorsport of Dominique Aegerter.
In contrast to yesterday's rain, today's qualifying session was held in sunny conditions.
Yesterday's surprise provisional pole position man Lorenzo Zanetti will ultimately start his ISPA KTM from the 28th slot of the grid, after the Italian ended up over three seconds behind Espargaro.
Pos Rider Bike Time 1. Pol Espargaro Derbi 1:50.475 2. Mike Di Meglio Derbi 1:50.844 + 0.369 3. Stefan Bradl Aprilia 1:50.878 + 0.403 4. Daniel Webb Aprilia 1:51.000 + 0.525 5. Andrea Iannone Aprilia 1:51.031 + 0.556 6. Nicolas Terol Aprilia 1:51.179 + 0.704 7. Simone Corsi Aprilia 1:51.211 + 0.736 8. D.Agerter Derbi 1:51.260 + 0.785 9. Scott Redding Aprilia 1:51.274 + 0.799 10. Sandro Cortese Aprilia 1:51.551 + 1.076 11. Bradley Smith Aprilia 1:51.572 + 1.097 12. Joan Olive Derbi 1:51.985 + 1.510 13. Marc Marquez KTM 1:52.069 + 1.594 14. Takaaki Nakagami Aprilia 1:52.076 + 1.601 15. Steve Bonsey Aprilia 1:52.086 + 1.611 16. Gabor Talmacsi Aprilia 1:52.170 + 1.695 17. Raffaele De Rosa KTM 1:52.358 + 1.883 18. Tomoyoshi Koyama KTM 1:52.635 + 2.160 19. Michael Ranseder Aprilia 1:52.759 + 2.284 20. Pablo Nieto KTM 1:53.053 + 2.578 21. Esteve Rabat KTM 1:53.115 + 2.640 22. Robin Lasser Aprilia 1:53.137 + 2.662 23. Sergio Gadea Aprilia 1:53.140 + 2.665 24. Efren Vazquez Aprilia 1:53.155 + 2.680 25. PJ Jacobsen Aprilia 1:53.209 + 2.734 26. Marco Ravaioli Aprilia 1:53.239 + 2.764 27. Alexis Masbou Loncin 1:53.478 + 3.003 28. Lorenzo Zanetti KTM 1:53.683 + 3.208 29. Jonas Folger KTM 1:53.774 + 3.299 30. H.van den Berg Aprilia 1:53.931 + 3.456 31. Jules Cluzel Loncin 1:54.414 + 3.939 32. Robert Muresan Aprilia 1:54.732 + 4.257 33. Davide Stirpe KTM 1:55.279 + 4.804 34. Bastien Chesaux Aprilia 1:55.440 + 4.965 35. Cyril Carrillo Honda 1:55.697 + 5.222 36. Kris Turner Aprilia 1:56.703 + 6.228
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Alex Zanardi open to Daytona 24 Hours or Indianapolis 500 bid
Giacomo Agostini says Rossi and Lorenzo will renew hostilities
Working Men: Interview with Ferrari's Test Drivers
WEC Imola: Ferrari 1-2-3 in dominant qualifying feat
Horner: More relaxed Perez no longer focused on Verstappen in F1 2024
FIA dismisses Aston Martin protest over China F1 qualifying
Espargaro considering Aprilia test rider role, but MotoGP future still open
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