2011 Jerez Moto2: Qualifying Results

Moto2 News

Moto2 World Championship leader Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing-Kalex) matched MotoGP’s Casey Stoner’s performance of two pole positions from two races.

The young German – son of former Honda 250 GP hotshot Helmut Bradl who started the 1991 Jerez 250 GP from pole – dominated the Jerez qualifying session just as he had ruled both qualifying and racing in Qatar.

With five minutes to go in qualifying for the Spanish Grand prix, he was just two hundredths ahead of Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Paddock Moto2-Suter) when he rode a scintillating lap to put himself almost six tenths ahead – a huge advantage in this ultra-close, Honda-powered series.

Yuki Takahashi (Gresini Racing Moto2-Moriwaki) did his best to make inroads into Bradl’s advantage during the final stages and his efforts were very nearly rewarded, the Japanese rider coming within 0.282 seconds of pole to move him into second. It was an impressive performance considering that Takahashi had a big tumble yesterday morning.

A few minutes earlier a brave bid for pole by Moto2 rookie Marc Marquez (Team Catalunya Caixa Repsol-Suter) had also ended in the gravel trap. The reigning 125 World Champion lost the front going into Turn One, his machine sustaining too much damage to complete the session. Nevertheless, Marquez had already done enough to lead the second row, 0.626 seconds off Bradl.

Swiss rider Luthi, as usual, went about his business in a quiet and determined fashion, focusing very much on race pace, while still doing enough to squeeze in a very quick qualifying lap. The former 125 World Champion ended up third fastest, 0.582 seconds down on pole.

Row two was completed by impressive British rookie Bradley Smith (Tech 3 Racing-Tech 3) and 250 and Moto2 race winner Alex De Angelis (JIR Moto2-Motobi).

Moto2 rider quotes

Stefan Bradl (Viessmann Kiefer Racing-Kalex: pole position – 1m 42.706s) says: “Everything is working so well at the moment – I’m very happy. The team has done a great job here, just as they did in Qatar. We improved a lot here, which hasn’t been easy because of the wind yesterday.

“This morning we found something in the settings that worked really well. The bike is a great package at the moment and the tyres were good too. The difficult thing was trying to find a clear track – everyone was waiting for me, trying to follow me for a good lap. We don’t know what the weather will do tomorrow but we are as well prepared as we can be.”

Yuki Takahashi (Gresini Racing Moto2-Moriwaki: 2nd – 1m 42.988s) says: “We had a good test here during the winter, but then at the start of this weekend I crashed yesterday morning and the bike was a mess. Yesterday afternoon we tried hard to come back from this problem and now we get a strong position. The team has worked very hard to get this far and I think I can do a good race for them tomorrow.”

Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Paddock Moto2-Suter: 3rd – 1m 43.288s) says: “First of all, we hope the weather is okay for tomorrow. The forecast looks like rain, which would be a bit of a disaster after two days of dry practice, but it will be the same for everyone. I think we have done a good job here so far. We have a good race pace, so I think we are well prepared.”

Pole position : 1m42.706s (155.032Km/h) Stefan Bradl, Viessman Kiefer Racing-Kalex, 2010
Circuit record lap : 1m44.710s (152.065Km/h) Toni Elias, San Carlo Honda Gresini, 2010
Circuit Best Lap : 1m42.706s (155.032Km/h) Stefan Bradl, Viessman Kiefer Racing-Kalex, 2010

2011 Jerez Moto2 Qualifying Results: