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Nicolas Terol Beats Faubel To Pole At Barcelona

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Nicolas Terol fended off his teammate Hector Faubel to take his fourth pole position of the 2011 125cc World Championship at Barcelona.

After wiped the floor with the opposition in morning practice, Terol was the hot favourite to take pole but didn't enjoy the same domination in qualifying, with Faubel getting to within 0.402s of the championship leader.

Terol hit the front just before the halfway stage of the session after Johann Zarco held provisional pole. The Frenchman was the first rider into the 1:52s, lapping in 1:52.828 before Terol went three quarters of a second faster.

But as the riders ventured out for their final runs, Faubel benefitted from the slipstream coming from the third Aspar Aprilia of Adrian Martin and set a 1:51.683. Terol responded instantly though and clocked a 1:51.281, the fastest lap of the weekend to seal pole position.

Faubel will join his teammate on the front row, as will Le Mans winner Maverick Vinales. The 16-year-old sneaked into third after the chequered flag had fallen and has a good chance of providing team owner Paris Hilton, who is expected to attend the race on Sunday, with something to cheer.

The two AvantAirAsiaAjo Derbis head up the second row with Johann Zarco ahead of Efren Vazquez. Sandro Cortese will start sixth but will hope his race ends better than his qualifying session, after the German crashed at turn five on his final lap.

Jonas Folger pulled it out of the bag in the dying seconds to take seventh place ahead of Luis Salom and Sergio Gadea who, yet again, was soundly beaten by his teenage teammate Vinales.

Danny Kent had a strong session and looked on course for a place on the second row of the grid, climbing as high as fifth with time ticking away. Unfortunately for the Briton, the flurry of late improvements dropped him to 11th and he will start on the fourth row.

Danny Webb is just one row further back after giving Mahindra their best qualifying result of the season, the 20-year -old set easily his best time of the weekend to go 14th.  Harry Stafford will start on the eighth row in 24th, two places ahead of John McPhee with Taylor Mackenzie bringing up the rear in 34th.

Qualifying Result:

 

 Pos Rider Nat Team Lap Time Gap
1 Nicolas Terol SPA Bankia Aspar Team 1:51.281  
2 Hector Faubel SPA Bankia Aspar Team 1:51.683 +0.402
3 Maverick Vinales SPA Blusens by Paris Hilton Racing 1:52.099 +0.818
4 Johann Zarco FRA Avant-AirAsia-Ajo 1:52.135 +0.854
5 Efren Vazquez SPA Avant-AirAsia-Ajo 1:52.288 +1.007
6 Sandro Cortese GER Intact-Racing Team Germany 1:52.449 +1.168
7 Jonas Folger GER Red Bull Ajo MotorSport 1:52.476 +1.195
8 Luis Salom SPA RW Racing GP 1:52.629 +1.348
9 Sergio Gadea SPA Blusens by Paris Hilton Racing 1:52.635 +1.354
10 Adrian Martin SPA Bankia Aspar Team 1:52.747 +1.466
11 Danny Kent GBR Red Bull Ajo MotorSport 1:52.859 +1.578
12 Alberto Moncayo SPA Andalucía Banca Civica 1:53.224 +1.943
13 Jasper Iwema NED Ongetta-Abbink-Metaal 1:53.607 +2.326
14 Danny Webb GBR Mahindra Racing 1:53.640 +2.359
15 Jakub Kornfeil CZE Ongetta-Centro-Seta 1:53.706 +2.425
16 Miguel Oliveira POR Andalucía Banca Civica 1:53.801 +2.520
17 Alexis Masbou FRA Caretta Technology 1:53.804 +2.523
18 Simone Grotzkyj ITA Phonica Racing 1:54.044 +2.763
19 Zulfahmi Khairuddin MAL AirAsia-Sic-Ajo 1:54.122 +2.841
20 Marcel Schrotter GER Mahindra Racing 1:54.126 +2.845
21 Louis Rossi FRA Matteoni Racing 1:54.197 +2.916
22 Luigi Morciano ITA Team Italia FMI 1:54.422 +3.141
23 Niklas Ajo FIN TT Motion Events Racing 1:54.682 +3.401
24 Harry Stafford GBR Ongetta-Centro-Seta 1:55.115 +3.834
25 Josep Rodriguez SPA Wild-Wolf-Racc-MS 1:55.159 +3.878
26 John McPhee GBR Racing Steps Foundation KRP 1:55.486 +4.205
27 Francesco Mauriello ITA WTR-Ten10 Racing 1:55.596 +4.315
28 Giulian Pedone SWI Phonica Racing 1:55.895 +4.614
29 Sturla Fagerhaug NOR WTR-Ten10 Racing 1:56.384 +5.103
30 Peter Sebestyen HUN Caretta Technology 1:56.431 +5.150
31 Joan Perello SPA Matteoni Racing 1:56.533 +5.252
32 Alessandro Tonucci ITA Team Italia FMI 1:56.982 +5.701
29 Kevin Hanus GER Team Hanush 1:57.975 +6.694
34 Taylor Mackenzie GBR Phonica Racing 1:58.533 +7.252
107% Time:  1:59.071

 

 

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