A delighted Jake Dixon had his best ever qualifying in Spain today and will start Sunday’s Aragon GP in command of the second row, after he became the first of four Moto2 riders ever to lap the 5km Motorland circuit in the 1’51 bracket, concluding the rapid Q2 session in fourth.

Having initially spent the morning session analysing changes to his Petronas Sprinta machine, Dixon waited until the closing minutes of FP3 before concentrating of his time-attack. Ending the session eighth after setting a promising 1’52.830 lap, the Englishman advanced easily to Q2.

Showing his confidence from the start of the afternoon session, Dixon became the first Moto2 rider ever to lap the Aragon layout inside the 1’51 marker. His countryman Sam Lowes eventually topped the session but the 24-year-old’s qualifying performance proved to be another career-best after finishing Q2 fourth with a 1’51.999 lap, and only 0.129s shy of the front row.

“Today was my best qualifying result to date. We have been struggling a lot this weekend and it hasn’t come easy, but we found something this morning in my second run in FP3 that I felt really happy with," said Dixon.

"The team made a further small change in qualifying and I felt even better on the bike.

I think we are in a good position for tomorrow’s race, I feel confident for it and I know that I have the potential to be where I need to be for the majority of it.

“I think it’s going to be a fast-paced race, so we just need to do our own thing and see what happens. I’m really looking forward to it and I can’t wait to get stuck in tomorrow.”