Moto2: Espargaró best qualifier in Italy

Pons 40 HP Tuenti's Pol Espargaró recovered from a heavy crash in this morning's Moto2™ practice to claim pole position for tomorrow's race at the Gran Premio d'Italia TIM at Mugello ahead of Marc Márquez and Andrea Iannone in a tightly fought qualifying session.Espargaró left it right until the end to post the fastest lap of 1.52'389, which moved Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol's Márquez into second, after the championship leader had lead up until the final minute. Despite JiR Moto2's Johann Zarco setting the third fastest time of the session, he will start from 18th on the grid tomorrow, after being handed a 15 spot grid penalty by Race Direction. Zarco had been at fault for taking out Espargaró in the morning practice as he went into turn one too hot and slid into the Spaniard, which was subsequently ruled as riding in an irresponsible manner. His team did not lodge an appeal.This moved Speed Master's Andrea Iannone up into third, putting an Italian on the front row of the grid, much to the delight of the home fans. NGM Mobile Forward Racing's Alex de Angelis put in yet another strong performance on his FTR machine to line up fourth, alongside Interwetten-Paddock's Tom Lüthi in fifth. Lüthi had been the pace setter earlier in the day, yet could not repeat his feat in the afternoon. Tech 3 Racing's Bradley Smith completes row two, despite crashing out on his final hot lap.Marc VDS Racing Team's Scott Redding qualified seventh, narrowly ousting Espargaró's teammate Esteve Rabbat into eighth. Italtrans Racing Team's Takaaki Nakagami rounds out row three, while Mapfre Aspar Team's Nico Terol had a good session at the Italian circuit as he finished tenth.There were numerous crashes throughout the session with Tech 3's Xavier Siméon, Came IodaRacing Project's Simone Corsi, Redding's teammate Mika Kallio and Cresto Guide MZ Racing's Mike Di Meglio, S/Master Speed Up's Alessandro Andreozzi, SAG Team's Marco Colandrea, Thai Honda PTT Gresini Moto2's Ratthapark Wilairot, and Kiefer Racing's Max Neukirchner all coming off their bikes. Neukirchner was the only rider to suffer an injury, hurting his right hand. His condition will be assessed before warm-up tomorrow morning.

Source: http://www.fim-live.com/en/media/news/news-detail/article/1342287843-moto2-espargaro-best-qualifier-in-italy/

Michele Rinaldi Sten Lundin John van den Berk Gert van Doorn