Submitted by David Emmett on
Alex de Angelis was top of the pile at the end of the Moto2 session at Phillip Island, last year's winner in Australian just holding off challenges from Andrea Iannone, Stefan Bradl and Claudio Corti. Iannone had looked consistently strong throughout the session, but Bradl only really gathered himself together towards the end of practice, making steady progress towards the front of the field. Bradl's confidence had taken a knock in the morning, the Viessmann Kiefer rider crashing in the fast and scary final left hander leaving on to the main straight during FP1.
Championship leader Marc Marquez was also suffering the consequences of a morning crash. At the end of FP1, after the checkered flag had been waved, Marquez steamed into the back of Ratthark Wilairot, who was riding slowly after having done a test start. Both men crashed heavily, Wilairot coming off far worse, having been transported to a local hospital with suspected leg and back injuries. In the process, Marquez also wrote off his only 2012-spec Suter chassis, and the lack of confidence and a return to an older chassis meant the Spaniard could only manage the 17th fastest time during the afternoon session.
Results:
| Pos | No. | Rider | Bike | Time | Diff | Diff Previous |
| 1 | 15 | Alex DE ANGELIS | MOTOBI | 1'34.466 | ||
| 2 | 29 | Andrea IANNONE | SUTER | 1'34.568 | 0.102 | 0.102 |
| 3 | 65 | Stefan BRADL | KALEX | 1'34.580 | 0.114 | 0.012 |
| 4 | 71 | Claudio CORTI | SUTER | 1'34.600 | 0.134 | 0.020 |
| 5 | 45 | Scott REDDING | SUTER | 1'34.783 | 0.317 | 0.183 |
| 6 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | TECH 3 | 1'34.956 | 0.490 | 0.173 |
| 7 | 36 | Mika KALLIO | SUTER | 1'34.964 | 0.498 | 0.008 |
| 8 | 12 | Thomas LUTHI | SUTER | 1'34.969 | 0.503 | 0.005 |
| 9 | 75 | Mattia PASINI | FTR | 1'34.984 | 0.518 | 0.015 |
| 10 | 72 | Yuki TAKAHASHI | MORIWAKI | 1'35.124 | 0.658 | 0.140 |
| 11 | 44 | Pol ESPARGARO | FTR | 1'35.181 | 0.715 | 0.057 |
| 12 | 68 | Yonny HERNANDEZ | FTR | 1'35.195 | 0.729 | 0.014 |
| 13 | 13 | Anthony WEST | MZ | 1'35.245 | 0.779 | 0.050 |
| 14 | 51 | Michele PIRRO | MORIWAKI | 1'35.248 | 0.782 | 0.003 |
| 15 | 54 | Kenan SOFUOGLU | SUTER | 1'35.265 | 0.799 | 0.017 |
| 16 | 76 | Max NEUKIRCHNER | MZ | 1'35.278 | 0.812 | 0.013 |
| 17 | 93 | Marc MARQUEZ | SUTER | 1'35.291 | 0.825 | 0.013 |
| 18 | 40 | Aleix ESPARGARO | KALEX | 1'35.362 | 0.896 | 0.071 |
| 19 | 16 | Jules CLUZEL | SUTER | 1'35.438 | 0.972 | 0.076 |
| 20 | 77 | Dominique AEGERTER | SUTER | 1'35.459 | 0.993 | 0.021 |
| 21 | 34 | Esteve RABAT | FTR | 1'35.522 | 1.056 | 0.063 |
| 22 | 63 | Mike DI MEGLIO | TECH 3 | 1'35.690 | 1.224 | 0.168 |
| 23 | 35 | Raffaele DE ROSA | SUTER | 1'35.797 | 1.331 | 0.107 |
| 24 | 80 | Axel PONS | KALEX | 1'35.966 | 1.500 | 0.169 |
| 25 | 4 | Randy KRUMMENACHER | KALEX | 1'36.004 | 1.538 | 0.038 |
| 26 | 18 | Jordi TORRES | SUTER | 1'36.037 | 1.571 | 0.033 |
| 27 | 19 | Xavier SIMEON | TECH 3 | 1'36.344 | 1.878 | 0.307 |
| 28 | 6 | Joan OLIVE | FTR | 1'36.438 | 1.972 | 0.094 |
| 29 | 88 | Ricard CARDUS | MORIWAKI | 1'37.278 | 2.812 | 0.840 |
| 30 | 9 | Kenny NOYES | FTR | 1'37.367 | 2.901 | 0.089 |
| 31 | 39 | Robertino PIETRI | SUTER | 1'37.388 | 2.922 | 0.021 |
| 32 | 53 | Valentin DEBISE | FTR | 1'37.575 | 3.109 | 0.187 |
| 33 | 20 | Ivan MORENO | SUTER | 1'38.032 | 3.566 | 0.457 |
| 34 | 64 | Santiago HERNANDEZ | FTR | 1'38.506 | 4.040 | 0.474 |
| 35 | 43 | Kris McLAREN | SUTER | 1'38.936 | 4.470 | 0.430 |
| 36 | 95 | Mashel AL NAIMI | MORIWAKI | 1'39.068 | 4.602 | 0.132 |
| 37 | 56 | Blake LEIGH-SMITH | FTR | 1'39.090 | 4.624 | 0.022 |
| 3 | Simone CORSI | FTR | ||||
| 14 | Ratthapark WILAIROT | FTR |
Comments
Whoa, that's quite a significant turn of events
Very sorry to hear Wilairot suffered injuries. He's had a shitty couple of years.
The pendulum of momentum which has appeared to be swinging inexorably the way of Marquez just might have turned back in Bradl's direction. Moto2 2011 is far from done and dusted.
Even more...
Marquez will be starting from the back of the grid, if the 1min qualification penalty remains as handed down.
Bradl
This is huge. Could Moto2 be any more exciting than MotoGP this year? Marquez is a mercurial talent but I sincerely hope Bradl takes the championship. His performance in the first half of the season was majestic, but keeping your head down and working hard when the momentum is against you is the stuff that real champions are made of.
Hythloday Is that you Raif?
It must be! This is Kristian! (apologies to everyone else)
I thought you were up for Marquez taking the title? I completely agree with your current comment though. It would be an explosive finish if Bradl pipped Marquez to the title!
hey! Yeah I did want Marquez
hey!
Yeah I did want Marquez when he was underdog, fighting hard for wins, but now Bradl is up against it I want him. Plus, Marquez looks like he's being groomed for a factory ride at repsol, but I would love to see Bradl in MotoGP sooner rather than later!
Confusing behavior
I saw that Marquez left the box with about 1 minute left in the session. That meant that there was no way he could have made an out lap and had any chance to post a new time. I can understand wanting to do a soft lap to shakedown a bike build. It just seemed like a bad idea even before the crash. It proved to be. It didn't look like there was much braking before the impact.