Jerez MotoGP: Shoya Tomizawa tops Moto2 qualifying

Shoya Tomizawa continued his brilliant start to the new Moto2 world championship today when he set the fastest time in a closely fought and enthralling qualifying session. 

Tomizawa, who created history in Qatar last month when he won the first Moto2 race, claimed his first pole position despite a crash in the decisive session.

The Japanese rider clocked a best time of 1.44.372 to deny Julian Simon a home pole position by just 0.002s.

Tomizawa, who is using a Suter MMX chassis, said: “Today I am very lucky because before the crash I made a good time and that was good enough. After the crash my mechanics worked very hard and I could go back out again. I have some problems still to solve but for tomorrow I need to make a good result to help with the championship.”

Home favourite and former MotoGP winner Toni Elias produced a brilliant last lap charge to claim the third spot on the front row with a best lap of 1.44.424. That left him just 0.050s away from Tomizawa.

Tech 3 rider Yuki Takahashi completed the front row with a best lap of 1.44.463 in an incredible close qualifying session that saw the top 35 riders split by less than two seconds.

British rider Scott Redding was only 1.219s slower than Tomizawa but he will start his Marc VDS Racing machine from a lowly 27th on the grid.

Another 0.7s would have moved the Gloucestershire rider up into the top 15!

Redding finished only 0.076s slower than MotoGP podium finisher Alex de Angelis.