Italy’s Mattia Pasini has grabbed pole position for tomorrow’s Moto2 race at the Phillip Island MotoGP round by just eight one-thousandths of a second from Marcel Schrotter with Miguel Oliveira completing the front row in Australia.
This year’s title contenders were off the front row, with Franco Morbidelli (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) the first and taking fifth as he lines up to try and push for the crown – just ahead of teammate Alex Marquez. Tom Lüthi (CarXpert Interwetten), meanwhile, took P10 but they will have a flying Brad Binder to deal with as the reigning Moto3 champion sits at the head of row two.
Motegi poleman Takaaki Nakagami (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) was seventh after a moment on his hot lap, ahead of Dominique Aegerter (Kiefer Racing) and Jesko Raffin (Garage Plus Interwetten).
Andrea Locatelli (Italtrans Racing Team) took eleventh, ahead of Japanese GP podium finisher Xavi Vierge (Tech 3 Racing), Sandro Cortese (Dynavolt Intact GP), Axel Pons (RW Racing GP) and Simone Corsi (Speed Up), completed the top 15.
