Alex Marquez claimed his second pole position from two Spanish rounds in 2017 after topping the qualifying times in Barcelona. The Marc VDS rider was on top the last time qualifying took place on Spanish tarmac at Jerez and proved too strong again, outpacing Mugello winner Mattia Pasini and Forward’s Lorenzo Baldassarri.
With temperatures climbing, Marquez’s strategy to put a flying lap in early paid dividends, the Spaniard clocking a 1:49.408 on just his fourth lap of the session. At one stage, Alex enjoyed an eight tenth advantage over the chasing pack led by Franco Morbidelli but a late burst from Pasini saw the Italian slash the deficit, closing to within a tenth.
Baldassarri also closed in but narrowly failed to break the 1:50 barrier. Despite that, the Italian still did enough to secure the final spot on the front row, a boost for him after crashing on the opening lap of his home Grand Prix and also for his team, who saw Luca Marini withdraw through injury earlier in the weekend.
Takaaki Nakagami will start fourth with the two championship frontrunners alongside on the second row, Thomas Luthi lining up fifth with Morbidelli falling to sixth after failing to better his own early effort. Miguel Oliveira starts seventh for KTM ahead of Jorge Navarro and Axel Pons with Isaac Vinales completing the top ten.
Moto2 Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya – Qualifying
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