It was Thomas Luthi that took pole in an absolutely crazy Moto2 qualifying session. It was the first fully dry session of the weekend in any of the classes but temperatures were low and the session saw 18 crashes. Johann Zarco had two falls but managed 10th with championship rival Alex Rins down in 16th.
Track conditions were sub-optimal at the start of the session as the track was still drying out. Luthi was top to start off with but Alex Marquez, then Simone Corsi, then Takaaki Nakagami took that place. The latter two crashing the lap after they went first.
Takaaki Nakagami had a high-side on the exit of Turn 5 and held onto the handle bars which clearly resulted in quite a heavy injury to the wrist and upper arm. It seems unlikely he will race tomorrow on first look.
In the middle of the session, there were few improvements in the times but riders continued to fall. With 17 minutes left in the session times started improving when Jesko Raffin jumped to the top surprisingly. He was toppled by Franco Morbidelli and then Thomas Luthi (just four minutes after he himself fell at Turn 4). Morbidelli’s hopes were ended by a crash as Jesko Raffin regained provisional pole with 13 minutes left.
Sam Lowes had two crashes within the first 15 minutes which meant that he couldn’t set a representative time until the last 10 minutes. He managed to use this time well and got onto the front row in the last few laps.
The same could not be said for Johann Zarco. He fell early in the session and then his second fall was with just 11 minutes left. Therefore he couldn’t set his time when the track was at its best and ended a disappointing 10th.
In the last few minutes in the session, Sandro Cortese stole pole but just before the chequered flag Thomas Luthi and Mattia Pasini gained first and second respectively, as Pasini followed Luthi on track. Lowes took third which left Cortese fourth and Jesko Raffin fifth, who fell trying to take a memorable pole position. Jonas Folger rounded out row two in sixth with Xavi Vierge an impressive seventh, on the Tech 3 chassis, lining up alongside Lorenzo Baldassarri and Franco Morbidelli.
Alex Rins could not take advantage of Zarco languishing down in 10th as he himself could only manage 16th and ran out of fuel at the chequered flag, ruining any chance at improvement.
In the final moments of the session, there was an unseen incident between Julian Simon and Alex Marquez. Simon also ran out of fuel and Marquez collided with him. Marquez is okay according to his team but has been taken to the medical centre for precautionary checks.
