Bradl on pole in Montmelo

Championship leader Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing) set pole position for this weekend’s Gran Premi Aperol de Catalunya. Aleix Espargaró (Pons HP 40) and Yuki Takahashi (Gresini Racing) will join Bradl on the front row for Sunday’s race. He was 0.114s quicker than Aleix Espargaró in second position, and 0.225s in front of third place qualifier Yuki Takahashi. Dark clouds threatened but the conditions remained dry, until the final 18 minutes which saw a few big drops hit the track but otherwise held back. Thomas Lüthi (Interwetten Paddock Moto2) missed out on a first row start for the first time this year, and will start in fourth. Marc Márquez (Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol) on the Suter bike will start fifth on the grid with a qualifying time of 1'47.154, followed by Bradley Smith (Tech 3). Smith, who finished in the top three practice times yesterday, had an early end to his qualifying session, crashing out during the final twenty minutes, though fortunately was uninjured. Mika Kallio (Marc VDS Racing), whose highest grid spot so far this season had been 14th, will start the race from the third row in seventh spot. Current second place rider in the championship, Julián Simón (Mapfre Aspar) will start from eighth place on the third row. Esteve Rabat (Blusens-STX) follows the Fin in ninth, starting from his best grid position this year in ninth. Jules Cluzel (Forward Racing) heads the fourth row, missing out on a third row start by just 0.030s. He is followed by Scott Redding (Marc VDS Racing) and Dominique Aegerter (Technomag-CIP) in twelfth. Simone Corsi (Ioda Racing Project), who was fastest yesterday and looked promising to land a top three qualifying spot, crashed out of the session in turn 9. He will start the race from 15th position. Last years Moto2 pole sitter as well as circuit record holder for the Moto2 class, Andrea Iannone (Speed Master), crashed out on his second lap of the session and was only able to reenter the session in the last 2 minutes. His time put him in 22nd position by the conclusion of the session.