Five Poles In a Row For Blistering Bradl

Stefan Bradl's 100% qualifying record continued as he took his fifth pole position out of five in this year's Moto2 World Championship.

After admitting to struggling during practice, and taking a trip through the gravel during qualifying, the series leader delivered when it mattered most with a time of 1:46.753, the fastest ever Moto2 lap of the Circuit de Catalunya. That gave him just a tenth of a second in hand over Aleix Espargaro who qualified on the front row of a Grand Prix for the first time in three years.

Yuki Takahashi didn't feature at the top of the timesheets at all during qualifying but suddenly came to life in the final minute to claim the final place on the front row. That is a place that Thomas Luthi has started from at ever Grand Prix so far this year, but his run was brought to an end by the Gresini rider who demoted him to fourth.

Marc Marquez had problems negotiating traffic in the final minutes and ran on at the first corner on his final effort in an attempt to find space. His hopes were dashed but he had already set a time good enough for fifth.

Rounding out the second row will be the impressive Bradley Smith, but things could have been even better for the Tech 3 star. Smith was second fastest in morning practice and was in exactly the same position at the halfway stage of this afternoon's session.

But entering the final corner on his latest flying lap, the Briton lost the front end of the Mistral 610 in spectacular fashion and was sent careering through the gravel trap. Smith was thankfully unhurt but his bike was too badly damaged to continue.

Mika Kallio was seventh in what was easily his best qualifying session of the season. The Finn, who has two years of MotoGP experience behind him, has struggled to get to grips with the two-stroke machinery but seems to have turned the corner this weekend.

Julian Simon ended up a frustrated eighth, after promising more in practice, and will start just ahead of Esteve Rabat who was the surprise package in the top ten, a line up that is completed by Frenchman Jules Cluzel.

Scott Redding was another rider who will have hoped for better after showing potential pole position in free practice. The Briton was out qualified by his teammate Mika Kallio for the first time and if he is to challenge for a podium finish, he will have to do so from eleventh on the grid.

Andrea Iannone will have to come from even further back after a crash at the beginning of the session put him on his back foot. The Italian lost control of his Suter at turn four and didn't set a representative time until the closing minutes, eventually taking 22^nd place.

Scottish rider Kev Coghlan was just 1.878s away from pole position pace but with the closeness of the field, he will start from the eleventh row in 33^rd.

Qualifying Result: