Nicolas Terol saw off the challenge of teammate Hector Faubel to take pole position for the 125cc French Grand Prix.
After filling three of the top four positions in morning practice, the Bankia Aspar team dominated the qualifying session, with Terol three quarters of a second ahead of third placed Maverick Vinales.
The 16-year-old rookie impressed throughout the qualifying session and held provisional pole at the halfway mark with a time of 1:44.315.
Terol became the first rider to get into the 1:43s, going nearly four tenths quicker and Faubel all but matched him to move onto the middle of the front row. None of the top three found any more time until the final two minutes when Terol re-emerged to defend pole position from Faubel. The championship leader produced two personal best laps, the second of which gave him a 0.389s advantage over his teammate.
Blusens by Paris Hilton rider Vinales held on to the third spot on the front row, although that was largely down to an error by Sandro Cortese. The German crashed his Aprilia with a couple of minutes remaining, meaning he will start off the front row for the first time this year.
Jonas Folger starts fifth for Red Bull Ajo Motorsport while Johann Zarco will start his home grand prix on the second row. The 20-year-old was second fastest in the final free practice session but set a slower time in qualifying and will have to make do with sixth.
Adrian Martin completed a wonderful day for Bankia Aspar with his career best qualifying in seventh. The Spaniard will be joined by two of his fellow countrymen, with Sergio Gadea and Efren Vazquez likely to be disappointed with eighth and ninth.
Miguel Oliveira qualified on the front row for his home grand prix two weeks ago but couldn't match those heroics this time. The Portuguese teenager crashed early in the session and despite recovering, could do no better than 12th.
Danny Kent was the top Briton in qualifying in 18th while Danny Webb will start in the middle of the seventh row after qualifying 20th. The Mahindra squad have had problems with the updated GP 125 throughout the weekend and they continued on Saturday afternoon.
The British quarter are all going to be targeting points tomorrow, with Harry Stafford two places further back in 22nd, Taylor Mackenzie is 26th after enjoying a much more straight forward qualifying session than he had at Estoril.
Pos | Rider | Team | Lap Time | Gap |
1 | Nicolas Terol | Bankia Aspar Team | 1:43.578 | |
2 | Hector Faubel | Bankia Aspar Team | 1:43.967 | +0.389 |
3 | Maverick Vinales | Blusens by Paris Hilton Racing | 1:44.315 | +0.737 |
4 | Sandro Cortese | Intact-Racing Team Germany | 1:44.355 | +0.777 |
5 | Jonas Folger | Red Bull Ajo MotorSport | 1:44.497 | +0.919 |
6 | Johann Zarco | Avant-AirAsia-Ajo | 1:44.592 | +1.014 |
7 | Adrian Martin | Bankia Aspar Team | 1:44.726 | +1.148 |
8 | Sergio Gadea | Blusens by Paris Hilton Racing | 1:44.755 | +1.177 |
9 | Efren Vazquez | Avant-AirAsia-Ajo | 1:44.776 | +1.198 |
10 | Luis Salom | RW Racing GP | 1:45.347 | +1.769 |
11 | Simone Grotzkyj | Phonica Racing | 1:45.423 | +1.845 |
12 | Miguel Oliveira | AndalucÃa Banca Civica | 1:45.593 | +2.015 |
13 | Zulfahmi Khairuddin | AirAsia-Sic-Ajo | 1:45.629 | +2.051 |
14 | Jakub Kornfeil | Ongetta-Centro-Seta | 1:45.682 | +2.104 |
15 | Alberto Moncayo | AndalucÃa Banca Civica | 1:45.697 | +2.119 |
16 | Jasper Iwema | Ongetta-Abbink-Metaal | 1:45.720 | +2.142 |
17 | Louis Rossi | Matteoni Racing | 1:45.746 | +2.168 |
18 | Danny Kent | Red Bull Ajo MotorSport | 1:45.965 | +2.387 |
19 | Alexis Masbou | WTR-Ten10 Racing | 1:46.230 | +2.652 |
20 | Danny Webb | Mahindra Racing | 1:46.381 | +2.803 |
21 | Luigi Morciano | Team Italia FMI | 1:46.473 | +2.895 |
22 | Harry Stafford | Ongetta-Centro-Seta | 1:46.477 | +2.899 |
23 | Hiroki Ono | Caretta Technology | 1:46.531 | +2.953 |
24 | Marcel Schrotter | Mahindra Racing | 1:47.364 | +3.786 |
25 | Francesco Mauriello | WTR-Ten10 Racing | 1:47.533 | +3.955 |
26 | Taylor Mackenzie | Phonica Racing | 1:47.540 | +3.962 |
27 | Niklas Ajo | TT Motion Events Racing | 1:47.563 | +3.985 |
28 | Giulian Pedone | Phonica Racing | 1:48.027 | +4.449 |
29 | Peter Sebestyen | Caretta Technology | 1:48.127 | +4.549 |
30 | Kevin Szalai | Maxiscoot MVT Racing | 1:48.607 | +5.029 |
31 | Alessandro Tonucci | Team Italia FMI | 1:48.825 | +5.247 |
32 | Joan Perello | Matteoni Racing | 1:48.987 | +5.409 |
33 | Kevin Thobois | Team RMS | 1:50.591 | +7.013 |
107% Time: 1:50.828 |