125cc: Rain gives Smith 125cc pole
Bradley Smith will lead the grid for the Estoril 125cc race, which will be formed on combined practice times due to the downpours at the Portuguese track forcing the cancellation of qualifying
Aspar Aprilia rider Smith was one of many 125cc riders to crash in the three wet practice sessions - but he was also quickest in both practice one and practice three, with his Friday morning time giving him pole.
Smith got that lap in before the rain increased, so finds himself with a vast 2.4-second pole margin over British countryman Danny Webb.
Second is Webb's best 125cc starting position yet, with his Cajasol Aprilia team-mate Alberto Moncayo also achieving a career high with third. The rookie was quickest of all on Friday afternoon.
All three championship contenders have had crashes during the build-up, and Marc Marquez's cautious approach to practice left the points leader with 11th place. His main rival Nico Terol will start fourth, while fellow title combatant Pol Espargaro is alongside Marquez in 12th.
Sandro Cortese, Marcel Schrotter, Tomoyoshi Koyama and Luis Salom fill row two, while Lorenzo Savadori takes his best qualifying position yet in ninth and Danny Kent gets the Lambretta into the top 10 for the first time in 10th, despite two practice crashes.
Pos Rider Bike Time Gap 1. Bradley Smith Aprilia 2m00.148s 2. Danny Webb Aprilia 2m02.646s + 2.498s 3. Alberto Moncayo Aprilia 2m03.025s + 2.877s 4. Nicolas Terol Aprilia 2m03.823s + 3.675s 5. Sandro Cortese Derbi 2m03.957s + 3.809s 6. Marcel Schrotter Honda 2m04.134s + 3.986s 7. Tomoyoshi Koyama Aprilia 2m04.718s + 4.570s 8. Luis Salom Aprilia 2m04.949s + 4.801s 9. Lorenzo Savadori Aprilia 2m04.982s + 4.834s 10. Danny Kent Lambretta 2m05.098s + 4.950s 11. Marc Marquez Derbi 2m05.169s + 5.021s 12. Pol Espargaro Derbi 2m05.292s + 5.144s 13. Randy Krummenacher Aprilia 2m05.451s + 5.303s 14. Efren Vazquez Derbi 2m05.552s + 5.404s 15. Jakub Kornfeil Aprilia 2m05.699s + 5.551s 16. Esteve Rabat Aprilia 2m05.757s + 5.609s 17. Jonas Folger Aprilia 2m06.031s + 5.883s 18. Johann Zarco Aprilia 2m06.553s + 6.405s 19. Adrian Martin Aprilia 2m06.943s + 6.795s 20. Sturla Fagerhaug Aprilia 2m07.430s + 7.282s 21. Louis Rossi Aprilia 2m07.584s + 7.436s 22. Luca Marconi Aprilia 2m07.712s + 7.564s 23. Luigi Morciano Aprilia 2m07.768s + 7.620s 24. Alessandro Tonucci Aprilia 2m08.203s + 8.055s 25. Zulfahmi Khairuddin Aprilia 2m08.638s + 8.490s 26. Robin Barbosa Aprilia 2m09.267s + 9.119s 27. Jasper Iwema Aprilia 2m09.413s + 9.265s 28. Simone Grotzkyj Aprilia 2m09.918s + 9.770s 29. Tomasso Gabrielli Aprilia 2m13.986s + 13.838s 30. Marco Ravaioli Lambretta 2m14.264s + 14.116s
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Hamilton accepts blame for incident with Albon in F1 Brazilian GP
Ferrari drivers called to F1 stewards over Brazilian GP collision
Will Alonso's Indy failure end the age of versatility?
Erik Jones sidelined with compression fracture after Talladega crash
Alpine confident for 'good news' in Habsburg injury recovery
Ferrari "made too many mistakes" for podium fight at F1 Chinese GP
What is a wildcard in MotoGP and why is it used?
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