Stefan Bradl continued his remarkable season by taking his fifth pole in six races in the Honda-powered Moto2 class.
The German rider was .295s clear of Marc Marquez in a session that was hit by typically inclement Assen weather, which limited quality track time. Bradl only completed eight laps, with his sixth lap of 1m, 39.306s standing up as the pole time.
"Yeah, this is the most difficult part of this weekend; the weather is changing so fast. But anyway we are having a great level," Bradl said. "Normally Assen is not one of my favorite tracks, but, yeah, we arrived here with a great performance and this is good for us. I mean, we are having just a great package right now and it just has to continue to like this. And, yeah, to have the pole position here is a great feeling for me and just wait for tomorrow."
Bradl goes into Saturday's seventh race of the championship having won four of six, a performance that has ballooned his championship lead to 62 points. It's the largest ever margin between first and second after six races in the history of the World Championships.
Spanish teenager Marc Marquez completed twice as many laps as Bradl, though he wasn't as quick. Marquez was hopeful of having a full dry session to improve the set-up of his Honda-powered Suter. With the weather turning for the worse towards the end of the session, Marquez wasn't able to improve either his set-up or his time. His best lap of 1m, 39.600s came on his eighth of 16 laps.
"This second position is important, especially for tomorrow, because this circuit it's a little bit difficult to pass other riders, but we will see," Marquez said, "Now, just I want to improve my set-up of the bike because in some points I think I can improve quite a lot, but for tomorrow we will see which weather we have. But for sure I hope will be dry conditions, but anyway I think we are in a good level in both conditions."
Simone Corsi only completed seven laps, with his third the fastest of the day. Corsi lamented the changing weather and the effect it had on his set-up time.
"Yeah, it's a real shame how things have been this weekend," Corsi lamented. "There just hasn't been dry or wet at any one moment, it's been in between all the time. So I hope for tomorrow that it's one or the other. Stefan (Bradl) has been a step ahead of everyone else, but I'm working really hard to get up there and I just hope I can get away at the front tomorrow and try to put up a good fight in the race. That's what we need to do."
Main Photo: Stefan Bradl
Qualifying position
1 Stefan Bradl 1m39.305s GER HONDA Viessman Kiefer Racing
2 Marc Marquez +0.295s ESP HONDA Catalunya Caixa Repsol
3 Simone Corsi +0.395s ITA HONDA Ioda Racing Project
4 Thomas Luthi +0.539s SWI HONDA Interwetten Paddock M2 Racing
5 Yuki Takahashi +0.585s JAP HONDA Gresini Racing Moto2
6 Aleix Espargaro +0.657s ESP HONDA Pons Racing
7 Kenan Sofuoglu +0.818s TUR HONDA Technomag-CIP
8 Scott Redding +0.844s GBR HONDA Marc VDS Racing Team
9 Michele Pirro +0.929s ITA HONDA Gresini Racing Moto2
10 Bradley Smith +0.933s GBR HONDA Tech 3 Racing
11 Pol Espargaro +1.164s ESP HONDA HP Tuenti Speed Up
12 Mike De Meglio +1.245s FRA HONDA Tech 3 Racing
13 Dominique Aegerter +1.342s SWI HONDA Technomag-CIP
14 Xavier Simeon +1.421s GER HONDA RTL Sport
15 Claudio Corti +1.439s ITA HONDA Italtrans Racing Team
16 Mika Kallio +1.499s FIN HONDA Marc VDS Racing Team
17 Randy Krummenacher +1.620s SWI HONDA GP Team Switzerland Kiefer Racing
18 Mattia Pasini +1.680s ITA HONDA Ioda Racing Project
19 Esteve Rabat +1.731s ESP HONDA Blusens-STX
20 Anthony West +1.763s AUS HONDA MZ Racing
21 Yonny Hernandez +1.906s COL HONDA Blusens-STX
22 Alex De Angelis +2.059s SMR HONDA JiR Moto2
23 Jules Cluzel +2.231s FRA HONDA Forward Racing
24 Javier Fores +2.259s SPA HONDA Mapfre Aspar Team
25 Andrea Iannone +2.337s ITA HONDA Speed Master
26 Kenny Noyes +2.427s USA HONDA Avintia-STX
27 Ratthapark Wilairot +2.434s THA HONDA Thai Honda PTT Singha-SAG
28 Alex Baldolini +2.603s ITA HONDA Forward Racing
29 Santiago Hernandez +2.626s COL HONDA Thai Honda PTT Singha-SAG
30 Kev Coghlan +2.772s GBR HONDA Motorsport 69
31 Ricard Cardus +2.855s SPA HONDA QMMF Racing Team
32 Carmelo Morales +3.003s ESP HONDA G22 Racing Team
34 Axel Pons +3.377s SPA HONDA Pons Racing
35 Valentin Debise +3.603s FRA HONDA Speed Up
36 Robertino Pietri +3.895s VEN HONDA Italtrans Racing Team
37 Steven Odendaal +4.935s RSA HONDA MS Racing
38 Mashel Al Naimi +4.977 QAT HONDA QMMF Racing Team
39 Max Neukirchner +13.738s GER HONDA MZ Racing
40 Elena Rosell -- SPA HONDA Mapfre Aspar Team
