Miguel Oliveira swooped in to take pole position, ahead of Mattia Pasini and Alex Marquez.
But it was Marquez who initially held provisional pole, after setting the fastest lap early on in the session with nobody able to come close. It was only during the closing moments when the fast laps started to come in, and Oliveira took over the top spot. An angry Pasini was on a mission after being run off track by Edgar Pons as he was on track to improve his time while defending his front row start.
But it was drama in parc ferme as pole man Oliveira was told his lap had been cancelled for exceeding track limits. Race direction took Oliveira’s pole position lap away, and handed the top spot to Pasini. However, just mere moments later Oliveira’s lap was reinstated after race direction had cancelled the wrong lap, meaning he will definitely start from pole position.
Championship leader Franco Morbidelli will head up the second row, from Simone Corsi and championship rival Thomas Luthi.
Fresh from his announcement that he will move to MotoGP with the Avintia Ducati team, Xavier Simeon is doing little to convince us that he’s worthy of the seat. He hasn’t had an outstanding season, he hasn’t been present at the top and he will start from 21st on the grid tomorrow. Dorna are desperate to have a Belgian in the premier class, so they’re bringing in Simeon, not just because he has money.
Top ten:
- Miguel Oliveira, Red Bull KTM Ajo – 1:53.736
- Mattia Pasini, Italtrans Racing Team +0.021
- Alex Marquez, EG 0,0 Marc VDS +0.071
- Franco Morbidelli, EG 0,0 Marc VDS +0.105
- Simone Corsi, Speed Up Racing +0.140
- Jorge Navarro, Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 +0.186
- Thomas Luthi, CarXpert Interwetten +0.240
- Marcel Schrotter, Dynavolt Intact GP +0.317
- Sandro Cortese, Dynavolt Intact GP +0.336
- Takaaki Nakagami, IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia +0.413
