At the end of free practice, it was Fabio Quartararo who proved to be the fastest ahead of Marcel Schrötter and Álex Márquez. The three men will therefore be strong adversaries for the two leaders of the Championship, Francesco Bagnaia and Miguel Oliveira, who are found in fourth and fifth places in the combined times. We know that the Portuguese often encounters difficulties in qualifying, but with now 28 points behind the Italian in the Championship, he can no longer afford to start far on the grid.
We must not forget certain drivers like the young Iker Lecuona and Augusto Fernández, who were at the forefront throughout the weekend and who could create a surprise.
Who will be the sixteenth pole man of the season? Response from 8:05 a.m. French time.
|
Motegi Moto2™ |
2017 |
2018 |
|
FP1 |
2'05.460 Alex Marquez |
1'56.507 Marcel Schrotter |
|
FP2 |
2'05.282 Tom Lüthi |
1'52.159 Iker lecuona |
|
FP3 |
2'06.163 Hafizh Syahrin |
1'36.670 Fabio Quartararo |
|
Qualification |
1'53.776 Takaaki Nakagami |
1'51.293 Francesco Bagnaia |
|
Warm Up |
2'06.905 Hafizh Syahrin |
|
|
Course |
Marquez, Virgo, Syahrin |
|
|
All time lap record |
1'49.961 Johann Zarco 2016 |
There's still one more grid to be decided in Motegi…
It's time for # Moto2 to go qualifying at the #JapaneseGP ?? pic.twitter.com/xOwsaYXs4l
- MotoGP ™ ??? (@MotoGP) 20th October, 2018
The sun rose a little for this Moto2 qualifying session. The drivers will certainly not have any rain and will be able to take full advantage of a dry track. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) sets the reference time in 1'51.331, while Lorenzo Baldassarri (Pons HP 40) is getting really hot.
After ten minutes, Francis Bagnaia (SKY Racing Team VR46) took provisional pole ahead of Iker Lecuona (Swiss Innovative Investors), fabio quartararo (Beta Tools – Speed Up Racing), Tetsuta nagashima (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) and Miguel Oliveira. A little after, Stefano manzi (Forward Racing Team) makes a mistake.
A quarter of an hour from the end, the leading trio remains unchanged: bagnaia is always ahead lecuona et Quarterly. Then we find Lorenzo Baldassarri, Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS), Tetsuta Nagashima, Miguel Oliveira et Marcel Schrötter (Dynavolt Intact GP). Behind, Xavi Verge (Dynavolt Intact GP) and Joan Mir (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) complete the top 10.
Three minutes from the end, Augusto Fernandez (Pons HP 40) falls in turn 10.
Few drivers improve their times and the positions remain unchanged. Even if Quarterly progresses, he fails to take first place in Francis Bagnaia who thus won his fifth pole position of the year. Note that each time he won the race the next day. Is this a premonitory sign for tomorrow’s race? Behind, Fabio Quartararo will start from the front row for the third time this season, while this will be the first time for the youngster Iker Lecuona. Will both men reach the podium? Answer tomorrow!
# Moto2 Qualifying?
Pole for @PeccoBagnaia in Motegi! @FabioQ20 will line up second on the grid while @LecuonaIker grabs his first ever front row in 3rd! ?#JapaneseGP ?? pic.twitter.com/aKZftOtgMW
- MotoGP ™ ??? (@MotoGP) 20th October, 2018
Motegi Japanese Grand Prix Moto2 Qualifying Standings:
| 1 | 42 | Francesco Bagnaia | Kalex | 1'50.759 | ||
| 2 | 20 | Fabio QUARTARARO | Speed Up | 1'50.924 | 0.165 | 0.165 |
| 3 | 27 | Iker LECUONA | KTM | 1'50.990 | 0.231 | 0.066 |
| 4 | 23 | Marcel SCHROTTER | Kalex | 1'51.043 | 0.284 | 0.053 |
| 5 | 7 | Lorenzo BALDASSARRI | Kalex | 1'51.092 | 0.333 | 0.049 |
| 6 | 73 | Alex MARQUEZ | Kalex | 1'51.250 | 0.491 | 0.158 |
| 7 | 97 | Xavi VIRGIN | Kalex | 1'51.313 | 0.554 | 0.063 |
| 8 | 45 | Tetsuit NAGASHIMA | Kalex | 1'51.327 | 0.568 | 0.014 |
| 9 | 44 | Miguel OLIVEIRA | KTM | 1'51.331 | 0.572 | 0.004 |
| 10 | 41 | Brad BINDER | KTM | 1'51.340 | 0.581 | 0.009 |
| 11 | 10 | Luca MARINI | Kalex | 1'51.343 | 0.584 | 0.003 |
| 12 | 40 | Augusto FERNANDEZ | Kalex | 1'51.359 | 0.600 | 0.016 |
| 13 | 87 | Remy GARDNER | Tech 3 | 1'51.505 | 0.746 | 0.146 |
| 14 | 36 | Joan Mir | Kalex | 1'51.555 | 0.796 | 0.050 |
| 15 | 9 | Jorge NAVARRO | Kalex | 1'51.638 | 0.879 | 0.083 |
| 16 | 24 | Simone COURSES | Kalex | 1'51.666 | 0.907 | 0.028 |
| 17 | 77 | Dominique AEGERTER | KTM | 1'51.769 | 1.010 | 0.103 |
| 18 | 16 | Joe ROBERTS | NTS | 1'51.797 | 1.038 | 0.028 |
| 19 | 22 | Sam LOWES | KTM | 1'51.808 | 1.049 | 0.011 |
| 20 | 5 | Andrea LOCATELLI | Kalex | 1'51.822 | 1.063 | 0.014 |
| 21 | 54 | Matthias PASINI | Kalex | 1'51.862 | 1.103 | 0.040 |
| 22 | 57 | Edgar PONS | Speed Up | 1'51.899 | 1.140 | 0.037 |
| 23 | 89 | Khairul Idham PAWI | Kalex | 1'52.258 | 1.499 | 0.359 |
| 24 | 2 | Jesko RAFFIN | Kalex | 1'52.378 | 1.619 | 0.120 |
| 25 | 4 | Steven ODENDAAL | NTS | 1'52.505 | 1.746 | 0.127 |
| 26 | 64 | Bo BENDSNEYDER | Tech 3 | 1'52.549 | 1.790 | 0.044 |
| 27 | 62 | Stefano MANZI | Suter | 1'52.625 | 1.866 | 0.076 |
| 28 | 66 | Niki TUULI | Kalex | 1'52.775 | 2.016 | 0.150 |
| 29 | 32 | Isaac VIÑALES | Suter | 1'53.222 | 2.463 | 0.447 |
| 30 | 95 | Jules DANILO | Kalex | 1'53.755 | 2.996 | 0.533 |
| 31 | 18 | Xavi CARDELUS | Kalex | 1'53.870 | 3.111 | 0.115 |
| 32 | 21 | Federico FULIGNI | Kalex | 1'54.199 | 3.440 | 0.329 |
