Espargaro on Pole for Phillip Island Moto2; Redding Ruled Out

Tuenti 40's Pol Espargaro
Tuenti 40's Pol Espargaro
Tuenti 40’s Pol Espargaro

2013 Phillip Island Moto2 Qualifying Results

The 2013 Moto2 Championship headed to Phillip Island this weekend for the Australian Grand Prix.

And for fifth time this season, Pol Espargaro took the number-one qualifying position. Espargaro is the runner up in the Moto2 Championship, and may gain some additional headway considering the points leader, Marc VDS Racing’s Scott Redding, has been ruled out after fracturing his left wrist in a crash.

The race will take place over the shortened distance of 13 laps.

A dramatic day of qualifying at Phillip Island drew to a close with the intermediate category, with the session being interrupted with red flags following a crash for Thai Honda PTT Gresini Moto2’s Thitipong Warokorn.

As the Thai rider was transported away for medical check-ups and soon diagnosed with a fracture to his right scapula, ruling him out of action for the rest of the race event, while Esteve Rabat, who also crashed, was effectively given extra time for bike repairs as he made his way back to the Tuenti HP 40 garage.

No sooner had Rabat re-joined the session than the Spaniard crashed once again, having by this point lost provisional pole to teammate Espargaro who will start in front thanks to his leading lap time of 1’32.530.

Rabat missed out by just one hundredth of a second, while there were identical times for Jordi Torres and Alex de Angelis; the former (Aspar Team Moto2) will start third by virtue of his quicker second best lap time, leaving the NGM Mobile Forward Racing rider fourth.

Tom Luthi rounds out the top five for Interwetten Paddock Moto2 Racing, while Mika Kallio will be the leading Marc VDS Racing Team rider in sixth; however, the Finn suffered a sizeable accident in the Hay Shed section. Just moments later, teammate Redding crashed at the end of the lap and was duly taken to the Medical Centre where the Englishman complained of pain with his left wrist. Having already posted his 1’32.962 lap time, Redding sank to tenth position in the results and soon headed towards Melbourne to operate on the left wrist fracture.

More drama came at the end of the session, with reigning Moto3™ World Champion Sandro Cortese being the last to suffer an incident. The Dynavolt Intact GP rider will start seventh on the grid behind Kallio, while Aspar’s Nico Terol and NGM Mobile Racing’s Mattia Pasini fill positions eight and nine ahead of the unfortunate Redding.

2013 Phillip Island Moto2 Qualifying Results:

Pos. Num. Rider Nation Team Bike Km/h Time Gap 1st/Prev.
1 40 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Tuenti HP 40 Kalex 287.0 1’32.530
2 80 Esteve RABAT SPA Tuenti HP 40 Kalex 289.9 1’32.540 0.010 / 0.010
3 81 Jordi TORRES SPA Aspar Team Moto2 Suter 284.2 1’32.769 0.239 / 0.229
4 15 Alex DE ANGELIS RSM NGM Mobile Forward Racing Speed Up 288.1 1’32.769 0.239
5 12 Thomas LUTHI SWI Interwetten Paddock Moto2 Suter 292.2 1’32.817 0.287 / 0.048
6 36 Mika KALLIO FIN Marc VDS Racing Team Kalex 290.1 1’32.833 0.303 / 0.016
7 11 Sandro CORTESE GER Dynavolt Intact GP Kalex 288.3 1’32.893 0.363 / 0.060
8 18 Nicolas TEROL SPA Aspar Team Moto2 Suter 289.4 1’32.902 0.372 / 0.009
9 54 Mattia PASINI ITA NGM Mobile Racing Speed Up 287.3 1’32.946 0.416 / 0.044
10 45 Scott REDDING GBR Marc VDS Racing Team Kalex 285.4 1’32.962 0.432 / 0.016
11 19 Xavier SIMEON BEL Maptaq SAG Zelos Team Kalex 286.7 1’33.064 0.534 / 0.102
12 5 Johann ZARCO FRA Came Iodaracing Project Suter 287.0 1’33.076 0.546 / 0.012
13 77 Dominique AEGERTER SWI Technomag carXpert Suter 288.7 1’33.103 0.573 / 0.027
14 3 Simone CORSI ITA NGM Mobile Racing Speed Up 287.2 1’33.182 0.652 / 0.079
15 30 Takaaki NAKAGAMI JPN Italtrans Racing Team Kalex 282.7 1’33.232 0.702 / 0.050
16 60 Julian SIMON SPA Italtrans Racing Team Kalex 283.7 1’33.310 0.780 / 0.078
17 49 Axel PONS SPA Tuenti HP 40 Kalex 288.4 1’33.450 0.920 / 0.140
18 23 Marcel SCHROTTER GER Maptaq SAG Zelos Team Kalex 287.0 1’33.482 0.952 / 0.032
19 96 Louis ROSSI FRA Tech 3 Tech 3 286.5 1’34.037 1.507 / 0.555
20 95 Anthony WEST AUS QMMF Racing Team Speed Up 284.9 1’34.092 1.562 / 0.055
21 88 Ricard CARDUS SPA NGM Mobile Forward Racing Speed Up 290.7 1’34.217 1.687 / 0.125
22 52 Danny KENT GBR Tech 3 Tech 3 285.6 1’34.289 1.759 / 0.072
23 8 Gino REA GBR Argiñano & Gines Racing Speed Up 287.7 1’34.497 1.967 / 0.208
24 97 Rafid Topan SUCIPTO INA QMMF Racing Team Speed Up 285.5 1’34.748 2.218 / 0.251
25 7 Doni Tata PRADITA INA Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 Suter 283.8 1’34.789 2.259 / 0.041
26 92 Alex MARIÑELARENA SPA Blusens Avintia Kalex 282.9 1’34.899 2.369 / 0.110
27 44 Steven ODENDAAL RSA Argiñano & Gines Racing Speed Up 286.6 1’35.047 2.517 / 0.148
28 31 Kohta NOZANE JPN JiR Moto2 Motobi 287.6 1’35.288 2.758 / 0.241
29 25 Azlan SHAH MAL IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia Moriwaki 278.4 1’35.341 2.811 / 0.053
30 10 Thitipong WAROKORN THA Thai Honda PTT Gresini Moto2 Suter 277.8 1’35.964 3.434 / 0.623
31 34 Ezequiel ITURRIOZ ARG Blusens Avintia Kalex 278.5 1’36.254 3.724 / 0.290

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