Lowes takes pole, just pipping Marquez
Sam Lowes took pole position for tomorrow’s Moto2 race after edging out Alex Marquez. Marquez led for a large portion of the session but should be happy with a career best starting position in Moto2.
The early pace was set by Jonas Folger with a 1m53.501s The early laps were compromised for a few riders however due to a very large amount of traffic. Johann Zarco and Marquez were the next two riders back, both just within two tenths of Folger.
Due to a shortage of tyres, the middle stages of the session saw little track action with not everyone going back out and only a few managing to improve their times. Some who did improve though went right to the top. Marquez going a quarter of a second clear at the top with 22 minutes to go and Takaaki Nakagami slotting into second five minutes later, two tenths down.
It would be Sam Lowes that would steal pole however, seemingly out of nowhere. He had been down in sixth but came out with 15 minutes remaining and went fourth, then improved to second, and then with his next lap went top with a 1m53.207s. He briefly came back into the pits with five minutes left and seemed unhappy with the bike but it was enough for pole as the last runs by everyone saw no improvements by anyone.
So it ended Lowes, Marquez, Nakagami on the front row. Folger, Zarco and Lorenzo Baldassari (despite a crash) on the second row and Franco Morbidelli, Thomas Luthi and an impressive Axel Pons on the third row. Though Morbidelli and Luthi will switch places due to Morbidelli taking out Miguel Oliveria in practice on Friday.
Alex Rins was able to improve slightly from his miserable practice but was still down in 13th place. With Zarco up in fifth it could prove a critical weekend in the championship which currently sees Rins just three points behind Zarco.