Reigning Moto2 World Champion Johann Zarco pinched pole position from Sam Lowes by 0.033s during qualifying today at Brno as the pair battled with Alex Marquez for the front-row honours.
The Frenchman left it to a last-lap dash over the line to steal the pole position from championship contender Lowes – seconds after the Brit had taken the honours from Alex Marquez. Zarco became the most successful French rider last time out in Austria, and looks set to contend for another piece of history in Brno.
“The qualifying session was tough. Despite the good temperatures and us running the soft tyre, the bike was still sliding a lot -although we were able to fix this with the team later. I was also lucky, because when I went out with the set of new tyres I could tell it was going to be difficult to improve my time, and the bike was sliding about again,” said Zarco.
“Then the red flag was shown, and I was able to follow Sam Lowes; using his reference I had a better grip level and was able to take pole. It is fantastic, I’m very happy and also pleased that our pace has been very good for the past two days. I am motivated to have a very good race tomorrow, and am ready to ride intelligently and win if possible.”
Lowes had bagged provisional pole in the session on his final lap, and was just pipped to the post by Zarco – around a second after taking top spot. Lowes, who has had a more difficult weekend than many expected, got right back on form in the session for another front row start.
“At the end of qualifying I did the fastest lap, but behind me Zarco passed me for almost nothing, so I can be happy because Johann is full of confidence after a very good run of races and the fact that he beat us for only 0.033 seconds, following me, is good and means that we are coming back in a good direction,” said Lowes.
“Germany has always been difficult for me and Austria was difficult, but we took the positives from the last two races and now we are back, so now we just need to stay focused and try to do a good job tomorrow.
“The team is working good and the bike feels great. We have a good pace for tomorrow, I think that me and Zarco we have a quite similar pace so we can try to pull away. I feel relaxed and really confident in dry conditions; I still feel good if it will be wet, and it will the same for everyone though, so we will see.”
Marquez was the leader for the majority of the session, as the Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS rider built on a fantastic weekend so far in Brno to look set for his first pole position.
The Spaniard, who put in a stunning performance to sit more than a tenth clear at the top until a red flag paused the session, took his first trip to parc ferme in Moto2 with his best ever qualifying: the best position the Spaniard has enjoyed since the Moto3 race in Valencia 2014 – the day he won the Moto3™ world championship.
“Today has been a great day for me and Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS to finally get on the front row of the grid. It has taken a while but finally we achieved it today and I was always confident I would be strong here in Brno,” said Marquez.
“I love this track and the bike has given me a comfortable and confident feeling, so I’ve been able to show the performance I think I’ve been capable of all season. When I was having a lot of crashes at the beginning of the season, I still think I was riding as well then as now, but it was just that now we are finishing races and I’ve got some of my confidence back that was missing. We have worked so well all weekend and I am so motivated and confident now to try and fight for my first Moto2 podium tomorrow. I just hope it doesn’t rain so we can see a good fight.”
Leopard Racing's Danny Kent took eighth place and is just seven-tenths off Zarco's pace, one place behind title challenger Alex Rins.
