2012 Moto2 Championship
It was Came IodaRacing Project’s Simone Corsi who charged to his first ever Moto2 pole position for tomorrow’s Gran Premio Iveco de Aragón after putting in a terrific performance ahead of Pol Espargaró and Andrea Iannone.
Corsi stunned the Spanish crowd by stealing pole position in the dying seconds from Pons 40 HP Tuenti’s Espargaró with a time of 1.54’343, which was just over two tenths quicker than the Spaniard. Third place went to Speed Master’s Andrea Iannone, with the Italian hoping to carry this pace over into tomorrow’s race to claw back some vital championship points.
It was a qualifying session for the Italians at the Spanish circuit, as Italtrans Racing Team’s Claudio Corti fought his way into fourth position, cementing the good form he has shown in the sessions before. Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2’s Jordi Torres, who is very familiar with the Aragón circuit from his time here in the Spanish Moto2 championship, was on the pace throughout, ultimately qualifying in fifth despite a crash at the end, in front of his teammate Nico Terol.
Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol’s Marc Márquez had a very subdued session for his standards as he qualified first on the third row in seventh. The Spaniard did well to save a near crash on his final hot lap, and will be looking for a marked improvement in form tomorrow. Márquez’s time did however push back Tech 3 Racing’s Bradley Smith into eighth, after the Brit wrestled his bike up the order in the closing minutes. Marc VDS Racing Team’s Scott Redding completed the third row in ninth, while the wet-pace man, JiR Moto2’s Johann Zarco, rounded out the top ten.
In cool conditions many of the riders struggled for grip, with NGM Mobile Forward Racing’s Alex de Angelis and Thai Honda PTT Gresini Moto2’s Ratthapark Wilairot both crashing twice in the session. Additional fallers included S/Master Speed Up’s Alessandro Andreozzi, Technomag-CIP’s Tomoyoshi Koyama and Targo Bank CNS Motorsport’s wildcard Alex Mariñelarena. All riders fortunately escaped serious injury.
2012 Aragon Moto2 Qualifying Results:
| Pos. | Num. | Rider | Nation | Team | Bike | Km/h | Time | Gap 1st/Prev. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 3 | Simone CORSI | ITA | Came IodaRacing Project | FTR | 278.3 | 1’54.343 | |
| 2. | 40 | Pol ESPARGARO | SPA | Pons 40 HP Tuenti | Kalex | 280.9 | 1’54.534 | 0.191 / 0.191 |
| 3. | 29 | Andrea IANNONE | ITA | Speed Master | Speed Up | 280.5 | 1’54.618 | 0.275 / 0.084 |
| 4. | 71 | Claudio CORTI | ITA | Italtrans Racing Team | Kalex | 275.7 | 1’54.712 | 0.369 / 0.094 |
| 5. | 81 | Jordi TORRES | SPA | Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2 | Suter | 277.8 | 1’54.787 | 0.444 / 0.075 |
| 6. | 18 | Nicolas TEROL | SPA | Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2 | Suter | 278.6 | 1’54.828 | 0.485 / 0.041 |
| 7. | 93 | Marc MARQUEZ | SPA | Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol | Suter | 280.8 | 1’54.877 | 0.534 / 0.049 |
| 8. | 38 | Bradley SMITH | GBR | Tech 3 Racing | Tech 3 | 274.5 | 1’54.899 | 0.556 / 0.022 |
| 9. | 45 | Scott REDDING | GBR | Marc VDS Racing Team | Kalex | 275.3 | 1’54.925 | 0.582 / 0.026 |
| 10. | 5 | Johann ZARCO | FRA | JIR Moto2 | Motobi | 274.2 | 1’54.993 | 0.650 / 0.068 |
| 11. | 80 | Esteve RABAT | SPA | Pons 40 HP Tuenti | Kalex | 281.2 | 1’55.074 | 0.731 / 0.081 |
| 12. | 36 | Mika KALLIO | FIN | Marc VDS Racing Team | Kalex | 283.8 | 1’55.224 | 0.881 / 0.150 |
| 13. | 30 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | JPN | Italtrans Racing Team | Kalex | 286.0 | 1’55.235 | 0.892 / 0.011 |
| 14. | 49 | Axel PONS | SPA | Pons 40 HP Tuenti | Kalex | 274.7 | 1’55.275 | 0.932 / 0.040 |
| 15. | 19 | Xavier SIMEON | BEL | Tech 3 Racing | Tech 3 | 269.5 | 1’55.445 | 1.102 / 0.170 |
| 16. | 72 | Yuki TAKAHASHI | JPN | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | FTR | 278.7 | 1’55.445 | 1.102 |
| 17. | 63 | Mike DI MEGLIO | FRA | Kiefer Racing | Kalex | 278.7 | 1’55.473 | 1.130 / 0.028 |
| 18. | 15 | Alex DE ANGELIS | RSM | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | FTR | 276.7 | 1’55.510 | 1.167 / 0.037 |
| 19. | 12 | Thomas LUTHI | SWI | Interwetten-Paddock | Suter | 277.1 | 1’55.617 | 1.274 / 0.107 |
| 20. | 95 | Anthony WEST | AUS | QMMF Racing Team | Speed Up | 278.3 | 1’55.875 | 1.532 / 0.258 |
| 21. | 60 | Julian SIMON | SPA | Blusens Avintia | Suter | 278.1 | 1’55.951 | 1.608 / 0.076 |
| 22. | 8 | Gino REA | GBR | Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 | Suter | 273.9 | 1’56.112 | 1.769 / 0.161 |
| 23. | 77 | Dominique AEGERTER | SWI | Technomag-CIP | Suter | 276.8 | 1’56.129 | 1.786 / 0.017 |
| 24. | 92 | Alex MARIÑELARENA | SPA | Motorsport | Suter | 270.9 | 1’56.661 | 2.318 / 0.532 |
| 25. | 23 | Marcel SCHROTTER | GER | Desguaces La Torre SAG | Bimota | 274.8 | 1’56.695 | 2.352 / 0.034 |
| 26. | 14 | Ratthapark WILAIROT | THA | Thai Honda PTT Gresini Moto2 | Suter | 275.3 | 1’57.158 | 2.815 / 0.463 |
| 27. | 84 | Steven ODENDAAL | RSA | Arguiñano Racing Team | AJR | 273.2 | 1’57.299 | 2.956 / 0.141 |
| 28. | 75 | Tomoyoshi KOYAMA | JPN | Technomag-CIP | Suter | 277.7 | 1’57.370 | 3.027 / 0.071 |
| 29. | 57 | Eric GRANADO | BRA | JIR Moto2 | Motobi | 270.6 | 1’57.462 | 3.119 / 0.092 |
| 30. | 22 | Alessandro ANDREOZZI | ITA | S/Master Speed Up | Speed Up | 278.2 | 1’57.925 | 3.582 / 0.463 |
| 31. | 82 | Elena ROSELL | SPA | QMMF Racing Team | Speed Up | 280.2 | 1’58.367 | 4.024 / 0.442 |
| 32. | 20 | Jesko RAFFIN | SWI | GP Team Switzerland | Kalex | 273.5 | 1’59.177 | 4.834 / 0.810 |
| 33. | 10 | Marco COLANDREA | SWI | SAG Team | FTR | 276.1 | 1’59.477 | 5.134 / 0.300 |
