Moto2

Early Rain Shower Hands Assen Pole to Bradl

2 Mins read

Stefan Bradl's early lap in qualifying was good enough to secure pole position for the TT Assen after the unpredictable Dutch weather effectively ended the session in the first 20 minutes. Wet or dry, the German has been dominant this weekend and duly took his sixth pole in seven races.

As the riders ventured out on their first runs, Marc Marquez went to the top with a 1:40.660, but the times were still a second slower than the morning session. Simone Corsi was then the first man to go under 100 seconds at the seven minute mark, with Thomas Luthi moving into second.

Ten minutes in, and Bradl took provisional pole with a 1:39.534 but had a major moment exiting the chicane to complete the lap, nearly losing control of his Kalex machine. With hindsight, pole position was already secured but a couple of laps later, he went quicker again, getting down to a 1:39.305.

Corsi wouldn't go any quicker but Marquez would, making an improvement in the nick of time to go up to second, moments before the heavens opened and effectively brought the session to a conclusion.

Simone Corsi held on the final place on the front row but the final effort from Marquez knocked Luthi onto the second row. The Swiss rider will be joined by Yuki Takahashi and Aleix Espargaro.

Kenan Sofuoglu will head up row three with Britain's Scott Redding alongside him in eighth. The Marc VDS youngster was second quickest in the morning practice session but the rain prevented him from better the time that he had set earlier. Michele Pirro was ninth while Bradley Smith had a much simpler qualifying session than two weeks ago at Silverstone, ending it in tenth. Kev Coghlan will start 30th.

The final half an hour was an anti-climax although some riders did go out to sample the conditions that may be replicated in tomorrow's race. Jules Cluzel found it tricky and ran off the track during a brief spell on track. Axel Pons also had an off but ironically, that came in the dry when conditions were at their best.

There were two non-qualifiers with Max Neukirchner failing to set a lap time in dry conditions and falling outside the 107% cut-off time. Elena Rosell also missed out after the Mapfre Aspar Suter was too badly damaged following her practice accident.

 

Qualifying Result:

Pos Rider Nat Team Lap Time Gap
1 Stefan Bradl GER Viessman Kiefer Racing 1:39.305
2 Marc Marquez SPA Team Catalunya Caixa Repsol 1:39.600 +0.295
3 Simone Corsi ITA Ioda Racing Project 1:39.700 +0.395
4 Thomas Luthi SWI Interwetten Paddock Moto2 1:39.844 +0.539
5 Yuki Takahashi JAP Gresini Racing Moto2 1:39.890 +0.585
6 Aleix Espargaro SPA Pons HP 40 1:39.962 +0.657
7 Kenan Sofuoglu TUR Technomag-CIP 1:40.123 +0.818
8 Scott Redding GBR Marc VDS Racing Team 1:40.149 +0.844
9 Michele Pirro ITA Gresini Racing Moto2 1:40.234 +0.929
10 Bradley Smith GBR Tech 3 Racing 1:40.238 +0.933
11 Pol Espargaro SPA HP Tuenti Speed Up 1:40.469 +1.164
12 Mike Di Meglio FRA Tech 3 Racing 1:40.550 +1.245
13 Dominique Aegerter SWI Technomag-CIP 1:40.647 +1.342
14 Xavier Simeon BEL Tech 3 B 1:40.726 +1.421
15 Claudio Corti ITA Italtrans Racing Team 1:40.744 +1.439
16 Mika Kallio FIN Marc VDS Racing Team 1:40.804 +1.499
17 Randy Krummenacher SWI GP Team Switzerland Kiefer Racing 1:40.925 +1.520
18 Mattia Pasini ITA Ioda Racing Project 1:40.985 +1.580
19 Esteve Rabat SPA Blusens-STX 1:41.036 +1.731
20 Anthony West AUS MZ Racing Team 1:41.068 +1.763
21 Yonny Hernandez COL Blusens-STX 1:41.211 +1.906
22 Alex de Angelis RSM JIR Moto2 1:41.364 +2.059
23 Jules Cluzel FRA Forward Racing 1:41.536 +2.231
24 Javier Fores SPA Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2 1:41.564 +2.259
25 Andrea Iannone ITA Speed Master 1:41.642 +2.337
26 Kenny Noyes USA Avintia-STX 1:41.732 +2.427
27 Ratthapark Wilairot THA Thai Honda Singha SAG 1:41.739 +2.434
28 Alex Baldolini ITA Forward Racing 1:41.908 +2.603
29 Santiago Hernandez COL SAG Team 1:41.931 +2.626
30 Kev Coghlan GBR Aeroport de Castello 1:42.077 +2.772
31 Ricard Cardus SPA QMMF Racing Team 1:42.160 +2.855
32 Carmelo Morales SPA Desguaces La Torre G22 1:42.308 +3.003
33 Michael van der Mark NED EAB Racing 1:42.565 +3.260
34 Axel Pons SPA Pons HP 40 1:42.682 +3.377
35 Valentin Debise FRA Speed Up 1:42.908 +3.603
36 Robertino Pietri VEN Italtrans Racing Team 1:43.200 +3.895
37 Steven Odendaal RSA MS Racing 1:44.240 +4.935
38 Mashel Al Naimi QAT QMMF Racing Team 1:44.282 +4.977
107% Time: 1:46.470
NQ Max Neukirchner GER MZ Racing Team 1:53.043 +13.738
NQ Elena Rosell SPA Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2 No Time
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