Pecco Bagnaia will look to further build his lead atop the Moto2 World Championship standings adter securing his fifth pole of 2018 around the Twin Ring Motegi after a typically fast starting Moto2 qualifying session.
The Italian took advantage of the freshly laid Michelin rubber and posted his fastest lap of the session early as has become the trend in 2018 with a 1:50,759. Despite putting more laps in later in the session, the Sky Racing VR46 rider’s time was never under serious threat to be beaten.
Fabio Quartararo and Iker Lecuona will join Bagnaia on the front row tomorrow. Quartararo was one of the select few riders who improved late, jumping into second position on his SpeedUp machine with a 1:50.924. Lecuona has had strong pace all weekend on his KTM and backed it up with his first career front row start.
Marcel Schrotter will start from fourth and will head Lorenzo Baldassarri and Alex Marquez with the Italian and Spaniard qualifying in fifth and sixth respectively on their Kalex chassis. Xavi Vierge qualified in seventh with Tetsuta Nagashima in eighth. World Championship challenger Miguel Oliveira will have to start quickly if he is to go with Bagnaia as he starts down in ninth position on his Red Bull KTM.
