French MotoGP: Alex Debon snatches pole for 250GP

Alex Debon has snatched pole position from Alvaro Bautista in Le Mans this afternoon.

It has looked as if Bautista’s time from yesterday would be enough, but in the final few seconds of the session, Debon just pipped Bautista’s Friday time by 0.001secs.

Marco Simoncelli will be the only non-Aprilia on the front row with the Derbi rider starting from third and Thomas Luthi just grabbed the final front row spot with a final flying lap of 1:38.648.

The entire 250 field took to the circuit and then came straight back in again as the forecasted rain fell on the Le Mans circuit. So after a 40 minute break and a now almost completely dry track following the show Yuki Takahashi was the first rider to brave it, with everyone soon following him out of the pits.

Provisional pole sitter Alvaro Bautista went straight to the top of the timesheets with a 1:40.208 with Takahashi soon knocking him down to second as he posted a 1:40.223.

And Bautista was first under the 1min 40sec mark as he posted a 1:39.895 on the Aprilia on lap seven. Thomas Luthi then followed him to post a 1:39.825 with Alex Debon, sitting in provisional second place then doing a 1:39.586.

Bautista was getting nearer his pole setting time from yesterday and with 13 minutes left was just a second off. Debon then posted the fastest time of the day with a 1:39.247 on his fifth lap out.

Alex Baldolini was the first rider to improve on yesterday’s first qualifying time and Ireland’s Eugene Laverty was the second in 19th place.

Bautista got to within 0.02secs of his pole time with just three minutes of the session left. And this looked like being enough to secure him the front spot until Alex Debon just snatched it away in the dying seconds of the session by recording a 1:38.478, just one thousandth of a second quicker than Bautista.

Ireland’s Eugene Laverty put in a strong performance and will start tomorrow’s 250GP from 18th place on his Blusens Aprilia.

French MotoGP 250 qualifying two results:

1 Alex DEBON SPA Lotus Aprilia APRILIA 1’38.478 10 10 255.7
2 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Mapfre Aspar Team APRILIA 1’38.496
3 Marco SIMONCELLI ITA Metis Gilera GILERA 1’38.567
4 Thomas LUTHI SWI Emmi – Caffe Latte APRILIA 1’38.648
5 Mika KALLIO FIN Red Bull KTM 250 KTM 1’38.790
6 Mattia PASINI ITA Polaris World APRILIA 1’38.864
7 Julian SIMON SPA Repsol KTM 250cc KTM 1’39.142
8 Manuel POGGIALI RSM Campetella Racing GILERA 1’39.286
9 Hiroshi AOYAMA JPN Red Bull KTM 250 KTM 1’39.295
10 Hector BARBERA SPA Team Toth Aprilia APRILIA 1’39.312
11 Hector FAUBEL SPA Mapfre Aspar Team APRILIA 1’39.450
12 Yuki TAKAHASHI JPN JiR Team Scot 250 HONDA 1’39.685
13 Fabrizio LAI ITA Campetella Racing GILERA 1’39.724
14 Ratthapark WILAIROT THA Thai Honda PTT SAG HONDA 1’39.924
15 Lukas PESEK CZE Auto Kelly – CP APRILIA 1’40.178
16 Roberto LOCATELLI ITA Metis Gilera GILERA 1’40.185
17 Eugene LAVERTY IRL Blusens Aprilia APRILIA 1’40.325
18 Karel ABRAHAM CZE Cardion AB Motoracing APRILIA 1’40.525
19 Federico SANDI ITA Zongshen Team Of China APRILIA 1’40.595
20 Alex BALDOLINI ITA Matteoni Racing APRILIA 1’40.605
21 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Lotus Aprilia APRILIA 1’41.538
22 Imre TOTH HUN Team Toth Aprilia APRILIA 1’42.448
23 Russel GOMEZ SPA Blusens Aprilia APRILIA 1’42.820
24 Doni Tata PRADITA INA Yamaha Pertamina Indonesia YAMAHA 1’44.515