125cc: Talmacsi on provisional pole
Gabor Talmacsi benefited from a last-session rain shower to grab provisional pole position for this weekend's 125cc MotoGP race at Le Mans in France
The session had been dominated by Mattia Pasini, who looked comfortably clear of the opposition - before Talmacsi put in his best effort with just five minutes remaining.
Talmacsi's lap, which pushed Pasini down to second, was safe from being challenged, with a light rain shower dampening the track and making it impossible for anyone to respond.
Briton Bradley Smith followed on from his quickest time in the morning free practice session to set the third fastest time, also just before the rain shower hit, with Hector Faubel fourth overall. Championship leader Lukas Pesek was fifth quickest.
The session was relatively incident-free apart from a bizarre pile-up with five minutes to go when a whole host of riders were caught out by the a shower at the first corner.
Esteve Rabat, Pol Espargaro, Raffaele de Rosa and Valentin Debise all plunged off the track at the same time into the gravel trap - with the damp track surface likely to have been the cause of the incident.
Pos Rider Make Time 1. Gabor Talmacsi Aprilia 1:44.408 2. Mattia Pasini Aprilia 1:44.509 + 0.101 3. Bradley Smith Honda 1:45.148 + 0.740 4. Hector Faubel Aprilia 1:45.328 + 0.920 5. Lukas Pesek Derbi 1:45.510 + 1.102 6. Simone Corsi Aprilia 1:45.629 + 1.221 7. Tomoyoshi Koyama KTM 1:45.665 + 1.257 8. Mike Di Meglio Honda 1:45.666 + 1.258 9. Michael Ranseder Derbi 1:45.667 + 1.259 10. Sergio Gadea Aprilia 1:45.852 + 1.444 11. Raffaele De Rosa Aprilia 1:45.908 + 1.500 12. Andrea Iannone Aprilia 1:46.099 + 1.691 13. Sandro Cortese Aprilia 1:46.131 + 1.723 14. lexis Masbou Honda 1:46.134 + 1.726 15. Esteve Rabat Honda 1:46.144 + 1.736 16. orenzo Zanetti Aprilia 1:46.402 + 1.994 17. Stefano Bianco Aprilia 1:46.409 + 2.001 18. Pablo Nieto Aprilia 1:46.418 + 2.010 19. Nicolas Terol Derbi 1:46.437 + 2.029 20. S.G.Giorgi Aprilia 1:46.503 + 2.095 21. R.Krummenacher KTM 1:46.534 + 2.126 22. Pol Espargaro Aprilia 1:46.657 + 2.249 23. oan Olive Aprilia 1:46.679 + 2.271 24. Joey Litjens Honda 1:47.490 + 3.082 25. Federico Sandi Aprilia 1:47.499 + 3.091 26. Dino Lombardi Honda 1:47.516 + 3.108 27. D.Agerter Aprilia 1:48.093 + 3.685 28. R.Tamburini Aprilia 1:48.105 + 3.697 29. Robert Muresan Derbi 1:48.409 + 4.001 30. Daniel Webb Honda 1:48.454 + 4.046 31. H.van den Berg Aprilia 1:48.471 + 4.063 32. Steve Bonsey KTM 1:48.846 + 4.438 33. Valentin Debise Honda 1:48.872 + 4.464 34. Julien Cartron Honda 1:49.971 + 5.563 35. Romain Maitre Honda 1:50.364 + 5.956 36. Gwen Le Badezet Honda 1:51.353 + 6.945 37. Steven Le Coquen Honda 1:51.517 + 7.109
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