125cc: Terol beats Cortese to 125cc pole
Nico Terol took his anticipated pole position for the 125cc season-opener in Qatar, but only after a tough fight with Sandro Cortese
Having retained his Aspar seat after finishing runner-up to Marc Marquez in last year's championship, and been quickest in all three practice sessions, Terol came into qualifying as a clear favourite for pole position.
He did not show his hand until the final five minutes, when he produced a 2m06.880s lap to take provisional pole by nearly a second.
But Team Germany's Cortese had an answer, sneaking ahead by a scant 0.001 seconds to steal the top spot a few minutes later.
Terol had more laps to go though, and managed to depose Cortese by 0.09s right at the end.
Ajo's Efren Vazquez completed the front row on the new-for-2011 three-bikes-per-row grid.
Sergio Gadea, Hector Faubel and Jonas Folger fill the rest of the top six.
Pos Rider Team/Bike Time Gap
1. Nicolas Terol Aspar Aprilia 2m06.605s
2. Sandro Cortese Germany Aprilia 2m06.695s + 0.090s
3. Efren Vazquez Ajo Derbi 2m07.651s + 1.046s
4. Sergio Gadea Blusens Aprilia 2m07.857s + 1.252s
5. Hector Faubel Aspar Aprilia 2m08.062s + 1.457s
6. Jonas Folger Ajo Aprilia 2m08.298s + 1.693s
7. Johann Zarco Ajo Derbi 2m08.582s + 1.977s
8. Alberto Moncayo Andalucia Aprilia 2m08.683s + 2.078s
9. Maverick Vinales Blusens Aprilia 2m09.218s + 2.613s
10. Luis Salom RW Aprilia 2m09.331s + 2.726s
11. Louis Rossi Matteoni Aprilia 2m09.466s + 2.861s
12. Miguel Oliveira Andalucia Aprilia 2m09.487s + 2.882s
13. Danny Kent Ajo Aprilia 2m09.705s + 3.100s
14. Simone Grotzkyj Phonica Aprilia 2m09.835s + 3.230s
15. Adrian Martin Aspar Aprilia 2m09.859s + 3.254s
16. Niklas Ajo TT Motion Aprilia 2m10.091s + 3.486s
17. Zulfahmi Khairuddin Ajo Derbi 2m10.161s + 3.556s
18. Hiroki Ono Forward KTM 2m10.223s + 3.618s
19. Luigi Morciano Italia Aprilia 2m10.269s + 3.664s
20. Taylor Mackenzie Phonica Aprilia 2m10.373s + 3.768s
21. Jasper Iwema Ongetta Aprilia 2m10.559s + 3.954s
22. Marcel Schrotter Mahindra 2m10.602s + 3.997s
23. Danny Webb Mahindra 2m10.608s + 4.003s
24. Alessandro Tonucci Italia Aprilia 2m11.335s + 4.730s
25. Joan Perello Matteoni Aprilia 2m11.699s + 5.094s
26. Jakub Kornfeil Ongetta Aprilia 2m12.180s + 5.575s
27. Giulian Pedone Phonica Aprilia 2m12.341s + 5.736s
28. Harry Stafford Ongetta Aprilia 2m13.379s + 6.774s
29. Daniel Kartheininger Forward KTM 2m13.769s + 7.164s
30. Francesco Mauriello WTR-Ten10 Aprilia 2m14.994s + 8.389s
Outside 107 per cent:
Sarath Kumar WTR-Ten10 Aprilia 2m15.620s + 9.015s
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