Inde GasGas Aspar’s Jake Dixon claimed his second Moto2 pole position at the TT Circuit Assen with a 1’36.736 on Saturday afternoon.
The Brit headed an intense battle for the front row with the leading trio covered by just three-hundredths of a second as teammate Albert Arenas and Elf Marc VDS’ Sam Lowes joined the Parc Fermé celebrations.
The final qualifying action kicked off with Aron Canet officially withdrawn from the Dutch TT due to his broken nose and incessant nose bleeds. Fermin Aldeguer suffering a technical issue on the Speed Up as the session began with the spaniard forced to push the machine back to pitlane.
Jorge Navarro headed the times on the sole remaining Flexbox HP40 with MV Agusta’s Marcos Ramirez, Italtrans’ Lorenzo Dalla Porta and Master Camp’s Manuel Gonzalez holding the remaining top four positions.
Gresini’s Alessandro Zaccone hit second with his fourth lap of the 15-minute session as Barry Baltus found fourth on the RW Racing machine. Dalla Porta and local rider Zonta van den Goorbergh briefly in contention after a standings shuffle before the advancing pair demoted them to fifth and sixth.
A regrouped Aldeguer was the next to rise, before the MB Conveyors rider found his P2 worthy lap deleted due to track limits. Zaccone and Dalla Porta improving their efforts inside the promotion zone with Aldeguer claiming fourth as Navarro consolidating his dominance with the first 1’36 of the weekend.
A late shot from Gonzalez denied the Speed up as the VR46 rider took third with Baltus doing likewise at the expense of the Italtrans man in the closing seconds.
Q2 saw Navarro continue his impressive pace with a 1’36.860 ahead of local rider Bo Bendsneyder before the duo both improved with their second efforts. Alonso Lopez trailing the pair on the second Speed Up as Aspar locked out the top five.
Sam Lowes bettered fellow Brit Jake Dixon for fourth next time around as Celestino Vietti split the GasGas riders in sixth. The Mooney VR46 crashing out at turn three before he could secure further improvement as title challenger Ai Ogura arrived to third.
Lowes was on the move with six minutes to go as he claimed provisional pole with a 1’36.767 from Navarro and Joe Roberts. The American getting his head down for another charge as Lowes found his rhythm interrupted by traffic.
Two to go and Arenas spoilt the party for the Marc VDS Man. The Aspar stealing pole by a mere 0.02s as the final attacks prepared. Ogura retuning to front row contention in third with the leading trio split by just four-hundredths of a second.
Further drama saw Dixon storm the show as the final rider to hit the flag, a 1’36.736 claiming the pole position in the dying seconds from teammate Arenas and Lowes. Ogura, Lopez and Navarro set for the second row with Roberts, Bendsneyder and Augusto Fernandez claiming seventh to ninth.
Marcel Schrotter rounded out the top ten from championship leader Vietti with Filip Salac, Tony Arbolino, Baltus, Gonzalez, Somkiat Chantra, Zaccone and Cameron Beaubier completing the top 18.
