125cc: Espargaro on Island pole
Pol Espargaro took pole position for the 125cc class at the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island, retaking the top spot on his final lap of the session
Espargaro showed the way early in the session before championship leader Julian Simon took over halfway through. Espargaro took the top spot back with 12 minutes remaining but with three minutes remaining Simone Corsi put in a time of 1:38.126 to move to the top.
With 90 seconds remaining Espargaro retook pole only for Nico Terol to take the position just a few seconds later. But Espargaro stayed on it and with the session over, he put in a superb lap of 1:37.770 to put him quarter of a second ahead of his rivals.
Terol was second, just 18 thousandths of a second ahead of Simon, with Simone Corsi and championship contender Bradley Smith close behind in fourth and fifth.
Marc Marquez qualified in sixth place, having jumped up from 16th to second with five minutes remaining before dropping down the order in the flurry of the final few minutes, less than a second covering the top eleven riders on the grid.
Pos Rider Bike Time Gap 1. Pol Espargaro Derbi 1m37.770s 2. Nicolas Terol Aprilia 1m38.049s + 0.279 3. Julian Simon Aprilia 1m38.067s + 0.297 4. Simone Corsi Aprilia 1m38.136s + 0.366 5. Bradley Smith Aprilia 1m38.155s + 0.385 6. Marc Marquez KTM 1m38.292s + 0.522 7. Sandro Cortese Derbi 1m38.552s + 0.782 8. Andrea Iannone Aprilia 1m38.568s + 0.798 9. Joan Olive Derbi 1m38.578s + 0.808 10. Esteve Rabat Aprilia 1m38.588s + 0.818 11. Efren Vazquez Derbi 1m38.663s + 0.893 12. Stefan Bradl Aprilia 1m38.890s + 1.120 13. Lorenzo Zanetti Aprilia 1m39.101s + 1.331 14. Takaaki Nakagami Aprilia 1m39.229s + 1.459 15. Tomoyoshi Koyama Loncin 1m39.237s + 1.467 16. Sergio Gadea Aprilia 1m39.274s + 1.504 17. Dominique Aegerter Derbi 1m39.354s + 1.584 18. Cameron Beaubier KTM 1m39.370s + 1.600 19. Johann Zarco Aprilia 1m39.390s + 1.620 20. Michael Ranseder Aprilia 1m39.426s + 1.656 21. Danny Webb Aprilia 1m39.521s + 1.751 22. Randy Krummenacher Aprilia 1m39.596s + 1.826 23. Jonas Folger Aprilia 1m39.615s + 1.845 24. Scott Redding Aprilia 1m39.990s + 2.220 25. Luis Salom Aprilia 1m40.545s + 2.775 26. Jasper Iwema Honda 1m41.646s + 3.876 27. Jakub Kornfeil Loncin 1m42.082s + 4.312 28. Quentin Jacquet Aprilia 1m42.965s + 5.195 29. Luca Vitali Aprilia 1m43.436s + 5.666 30. Brad Gross Yamaha 1m44.027s + 6.257 31. Nicky Diles Aprilia 1m44.063s + 6.293 32. Luca Marconi Aprilia 1m44.109s + 6.339
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
The plot twist that gave Arrow McLaren’s Ward his first IndyCar win as team principal
Formula E’s new Gen3 Evo car breaks cover
The weekly reality check that has kept MotoGP hype off of Acosta so far in 2024
F2 veteran Ghiotto to make IndyCar debut with Dale Coyne Racing at Barber
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