125cc: Gadea fastest in first qualifying
Sergio Gadea beat Bradley Smith to provisional pole position in the closing minutes of first qualifying for the 125cc series at Le Mans
Polaris World Aprilia rider Smith had dominated much of the session - producing a 1:43.675 lap after 13 minutes to move seven tenths of a second clear of the field.
The rest gradually closed in, though, and with one minute remaining Gardea (Aspar Aprilia) slipped ahead on a time of 1:43.515. Although Smith - who has taken pole for three of this year's four rounds to date - improved to 1:43.614, he had to settle for second.
Stefan Bradl took third on the Kiefer Aprilia, ahead of points leader Simone Corsi's Jack and Jones Aprilia and Mike di Meglio on the Ajo Derbi.
Corsi's nearest championship rivals Joan Olive and Nicolas Terol were back in eighth and ninth, behind Esteve Rabat and Pol Espargaro.
The session saw several crashes, with the most frightening befalling Marc Marquez and Efren Vazquez. The former fell at the final corner, and his Repsol KTM then slid into Vazquez's path.
Blusens Aprilia rider Vazquez clipped the KTM and also crashed, with the bike slewing into the gravel while the unfortunate Vazquez landed in the middle of the circuit in the path of oncoming traffic. He managed to crawl away safely as the other riders frantically took avoiding action.
Danny Webb also suffered a violent high-side during first qualifying, while Tomoyoshi Koyama had a less-dramatic low-side accident in the final moments.
Pos Rider Bike Time 1. Sergio Gadea Aprilia 1:43.515 2. Bradley Smith Aprilia 1:43.614 + 0.099 3. Stefan Bradl Aprilia 1:43.710 + 0.195 4. Simone Corsi Aprilia 1:43.711 + 0.196 5. Mike Di Meglio Derbi 1:43.956 + 0.441 6. Esteve Rabat KTM 1:44.344 + 0.829 7. Pol Espargaro Derbi 1:44.485 + 0.970 8. Joan Olive Derbi 1:44.532 + 1.017 9. Nicolas Terol Aprilia 1:44.603 + 1.088 10. Sandro Cortese Aprilia 1:44.737 + 1.222 11. Gabor Talmacsi Aprilia 1:44.769 + 1.254 12. Scott Redding Aprilia 1:44.974 + 1.459 13. Andrea Iannone Aprilia 1:45.074 + 1.559 14. Alexis Masbou Loncin 1:45.152 + 1.637 15. Tomoyoshi Koyama KTM 1:45.158 + 1.643 16. Raffaele De Rosa KTM 1:45.236 + 1.721 17. Stefano Bianco Aprilia 1:45.268 + 1.753 18. Steve Bonsey Aprilia 1:45.275 + 1.760 19. Daniel Webb Aprilia 1:45.442 + 1.927 20. Pablo Nieto KTM 1:45.541 + 2.026 21. Lorenzo Zanetti KTM 1:45.709 + 2.194 22. Takaaki Nakagami Aprilia 1:45.889 + 2.374 23. D.Aegerter Derbi 1:46.066 + 2.551 24. Robert Muresan Aprilia 1:46.140 + 2.625 25. Marc Marquez KTM 1:46.230 + 2.715 26. Efren Vazquez Aprilia 1:46.271 + 2.756 27. H.van den Berg Aprilia 1:46.376 + 2.861 28. Pere Tutusaus Aprilia 1:46.416 + 2.901 29. Cyril Carrillo Honda 1:47.185 + 3.670 30. Robin Lasser Aprilia 1:47.259 + 3.744 31. Gioele Pellino Loncin 1:47.371 + 3.856 32. R.Krummenacher KTM 1:47.704 + 4.189 33. Michael Ranseder Aprilia 1:47.751 + 4.236 34. R.Lacalendola Aprilia 1:47.854 + 4.339 35. Steven Le Coquen Honda 1:48.056 + 4.541 36. Valentin Debise KTM 1:48.298 + 4.783 37. Louis Rossi Honda 1:48.300 + 4.785 38. Tobias Siegert Aprilia 1:50.021 + 6.506
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