Johann Zarco cruised to his first pole position of the 2015 Moto2 season in Argentina, dominating Saturday’s qualifying session from start to finish. The Frenchman rose above his championship rivals to tale pole by three tenths of a second, leaving his challengers to squabble over the remaining spots on the front row.
The writing appeared to be in the wall from a very early stage as Zarco took provisional pole on a 1:44.053 straight away and the only threat to the Ajo Motorsport Kalex came from Johann himself. Within ten minutes, Zarco was well into the 1:43s but on his very last lap of the afternoon, the 24 year old clocked a 1:42.809 to break the pole position record at MotoGP’s newest venue.
Thomas Luthi looked like the surprise contender to follow Zarco but with the chequered flag flying, Tito Rabat stole second on a 1:43.102, six hundredths quicker than the Interwetten rider. COTA winner Sam Lowes was typically aggressive, providing the Speed Up team with a nervous moment or two on his way to fourth, while championship leader Alex Rins was as cool as ever, taking fifth for Paginas Amarillas HP 40.
Jonas Folger rediscovered the form which took him to victory in Qatar, qualifying sixth, with Simone Corsi, Sandro Cortese and COTA polesitter Xavier Simeon making up the third row. Mika Kallio was tenth fastest for Italtrans but his teammate Franco Morbidelli had a disastrous session, culminating in a crash after tagging the rear of Luis Salom’s Kalex.
Moto2 GP RED BULL DE LA REPÚBLICA ARGENTINA: QUALIFYING RESULT
| Pos | Rider | Constructor | Team | Best Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5. Johann Zarco | Kalex | Ajo Motorsport | 1:42.809 |
| 2 | 1. Esteve Rabat | Kalex | Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS | 1:43.102 |
| 3 | 12. Thomas Luthi | Kalex | Derendinger Racing Interwetten | 1:43.165 |
| 4 | 22. Sam Lowes | Speed Up | Speed Up Racing | 1:43.253 |
| 5 | 40. Alex Rins | Kalex | Paginas Amarillas HP 40 | 1:43.364 |
| 6 | 94. Jonas Folger | Kalex | AGR Team | 1:43.384 |
| 7 | 3. Simone Corsi | Kalex | Forward Racing | 1:43.449 |
| 8 | 11. Sandro Cortese | Kalex | Dynavolt Intact GP | 1:43.460 |
| 9 | 19. Xavier Simeon | Kalex | Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 | 1:43.640 |
| 10 | 36. Mika Kallio | Kalex | Italtrans Racing Team | 1:43.699 |
| 11 | 4. Randy Krummenacher | Kalex | JIR Moto2 | 1:43.755 |
| 12 | 23. Marcel Schrotter | Tech 3 | Tech 3 | 1:43.778 |
| 13 | 7. Lorenzo Baldassarri | Kalex | Forward Racing | 1:43.797 |
| 14 | 60. Julian Simon | Speed Up | QMMF Racing Team | 1:43.847 |
| 15 | 30. Takaaki Nakagami | Kalex | IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia | 1:43.857 |
| 16 | 55. Hafizh Syahrin | Kalex | Petronas Raceline Malaysia | 1:43.874 |
| 17 | 77. Dominique Aegerter | Kalex | Technomag Racing Interwetten | 1:43.984 |
| 18 | 39. Luis Salom | Kalex | Paginas Amarillas HP 40 | 1:44.051 |
| 19 | 95. Anthony West | Speed Up | QMMF Racing Team | 1:44.070 |
| 20 | 73. Alex Marquez | Kalex | Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS | 1:44.178 |
| 21 | 88. Ricard Cardus | Tech 3 | Tech 3 | 1:44.212 |
| 22 | 21. Franco Morbidelli | Kalex | Italtrans Racing Team | 1:44.292 |
| 23 | 96. Louis Rossi | Tech 3 | Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2 | 1:44.349 |
| 24 | 70. Robin Mulhauser | Kalex | Technomag Racing Interwetten | 1:44.823 |
| 25 | 25. Azlan Shah | Kalex | IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia | 1:44.857 |
| 26 | 44. Steven Odendaal | Kalex | AGR Team | 1:44.904 |
| 27 | 10. Thitipong Warokorn | Kalex | APH PTT The Pizza SAG | 1:45.158 |
| 28 | 66. Florian Alt | Suter | Octo IodaRacing Team | 1:45.498 |
| 29 | 2. Jesko Raffin | Kalex | sports-millions-EMWE-SAG | 1:45.882 |
| 30 | 51. Zaqhwan Zaidi | Suter | JPM Malaysia | 1:45.930 |
