Britain’s Sam Lowes proved his mettle this afternoon by breaking the outright lap record on his fourth flier around Misano to bag pole position for tomorrow’s Moto2 race.
Immediately showing his strong form with a 1’36.666 in the opening stages of the 15-minute session, he continued to improve on the following lap to hold the times with a 1’36.170.
Claiming his first pole since 2016, the EG 0,0 Marc VDS rider proved he is both comfortable and confident at his second home-track and easily has what it takes to run at the front over the next two weekends, despite knowing he will start Sunday’s race from pitlane after his Spielberg penalty.
Local hopes were raised and then promptly dashed as Australian Remy Gardner denied SKY Racing Team VR46 their home pole position, setting a 1’36.424 in the final moments to line up ahead of duo of Luca Marini and Marco Bezzecchi for Sunday’s race, after Lowes’ relegation to pitlane.
A disappointing crash at turn 16 for Bezzecchi in the closing minutes had not only cut his session short but also put a dent into his teammate, Marini’s, run, the flags coming out as Marini was on a red-sector lap. The two riders comfortably held, and swapped, front row positions for the majority of the session, with the championship-elect stealing glory from his fallen compatriot in the penultimate lap before Gardner made his charge.
Enea Bastianini returning to his strong Friday pace, leads the second row ahead of Xavi Vierge and Marcel Schrotter, with Augusto Fernandez, Tetsuta Nagashima and Fabio Di Giannantonio - promoted through Q1 - lining up on row three.
Marcos Ramirez, Thomas Luthi and Jorge Navarro took row four, with Hafizh Syahrin, Hector Garzo and Lorenzo Dalla Porta behind on five.
After success in the cooler morning’s session, Jake Dixon’s qualifying development continued with the Kent rider setting the 17th fastest time, 1’37.435, just 0.5 off his weekend best to see him line up on the sixth row for Sunday’s battle ahead of America’s Joe Roberts.
