Terol Proves Unbeatable In Qualifying At Indy

Nicolas Terol justified his status as the overwhelming favourite for qualifying at Indianapolis by cruising to pole position. In truth, the destiny of the pole slot was never in doubt with Terol raising the bar as soon as anybody got anywhere near him.

In the early stages, British rookie Danny Kent was the surprise challenger to the Spaniard, becoming the first rider this afternoon to go under 1m50s to take pole at the halfway mark. Terol's response was instant and emphatic with consecutive laps of 1:49.485 and 1:49.152 to pull out a half-second lead over Maverick Vinales who sneaked into second. The Blusens rider followed that up with another lap which got him to within 0.035s of pole position but true to form, Terol hit back with a 1:48.902.

As the final runs began, the attention turned to Kent as he looked to defend his place on the front row. Johann Zarco snatched it off him with eight minutes remaining and despite a series of improvements form the Briton, he wouldn't be dislodged.

Instead it was Vinales who fell back as Sandro Cortese delivered another single-lap stunner, moving into second on a 1:48.919 with Zarco also getting into the 1:48s to retake third. Not to be left out, Terol returned to the track to consolidate pole position with his quickest lap of 1:48.199 comfortably faster than the rest of the field.

Cortese and Zarco will start alongside on the front row, making a repeat of the three-way battle of Brno highly likely. Vinales will also be a contender after matching the times of the two riders ahead of him. The 16 year old will have Danny Kent for company with the Red Bull Ajo rider securing his highest ever grid position.

Hector Faubel shrugged off a morning crash to take sixth on his final lap, pushing Efren Vazquez off the second row into seventh. The Derbi rider will be joined by Jonas Folger and Sergio Gadea, with Alexis Masbou qualifying a fine tenth on the Caretta Technology KTM.

Behind Kent, Taylor Mackenzie did an excellent job to be the next Briton in 20^th, his best grid position since the second race of the season but Danny Webb won't be happy to be starting alongside him. The Mahindra rider crashed for the second time this weekend which restricted him to 21^st. Harry Stafford also had a fall during the session and will start from the back of the grid.

The line-up will only feature 30 riders as a result of Alberto Moncayo's morning crash. The Andalucia Banca Civica rider damaged his collarbone in the fall and has been ruled out of tomorrow's Grand Prix.

Qualifying Result: