Moto2: de Angelis on pole at Phillip Island
Alex de Angelis repeateꦆd his Phillip Island Moto2 pole of one year ago after an exciting climax to a rain-interrupted qualifying at Phillip Island on Saturday.
Spots of rain after only a few minutes sent riders back to the pits, leaving Marc VDS rider Scott Redding fastes꧑t by 0.122sec from JiR's de Angelis.
The moisture continued off and on for th𓆏e rest of the session, before a dryer window suddenly opened up in the closಌing minutes.
A frantic finale ended with de Angelis on pole by just 0.088sec from Tech 3's Mike di Meglio, with Gresini's Yuki Takaha🍃shi completing the fr🦋ont row.
Redding dropped to fourth, and will be joined on the second row by Technomag CIP's Kenan Sofuoglu and Speed Up's𒀰 Pol Espargaro.
Tech 3's Bradley Smith will line-up seventh, while the changes in the closing stages changes were so great that title contender 𝄹Stefan Bradl was pushed from pole to eighth.
The good news, from Bradl's point of view, is that new title l൩eader Marc Marquez will 🍸start from last place.
Marquez is to be penalised for a Friday practice collision with R♋atthapark Wilairot, w♑hich occurred after the chequered flag. As a result Marquez unsurprisingly didn't push for pole.
The Spaniard, who has beaten long-time title leader Bradl in the last eight races, holds a one-point adv𒉰antage over the German with three rounds remaining.
Qualifying:
1. de Angelis (MotoBI) 1m 34.574s
2. di Meglio (Tech 3) +0.088s
3. Takahashi (Moriwaki) +0.115s
4. Redding (Suter) +0.125s
5. Sofuoglu (Suter) +0.155s
6. P. Espargaro (FTR) +0.223s
7. Smith (Tech 3) +0.293s
8. Bradl (Kalex) +0.328s
9. Luthi (Suter) +0.384s
10. Pasini (FTR) +0.518s
Peter ha🐻s been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go💧. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
