An incredible 1:42.472 lap from Alonso Lopez (Beta Tools SpeedUp) saw him snatch the Moto2™ pole position at the last minute ahead of the Gran Premio Michelin® de la República Argentina. Aron Canet (Pons Wegwow Los4), and Somkiat Chantra (IDEMISTU Honda Team Asia) put in strong efforts during Q2 to bag front-row starts in 2nd and 3rd respectively.
Q1 honours went the way of Darryn Binder (Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP) as he scrapped his way to the top of a hard-fought Qualifying 1 session. The South African got the better of Celestino Vietti (Fantic Racing), Jeremy Alcoba (QJMOTOR Gresini Moto2™), and Sean Dylan Kelly (American Racing) who finished in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th respectively, having fought their way into Qualifying 2.
With Q1 done and out of the way, the stage was set for the battle for pole position to commence. Minutes after the session got underway, the Portuguese GP poleman Filip Salac (QJMOTOR Gresini Moto2™) had his chances of pole taken away from him as he crashed out of the session on the brakes at Turn 9. Jake Dixon (GASGAS Aspar Team) then took early control of the session, putting his Kalex machine at the top of the pile with just under nine minutes on the clock.
No time to rest! @FilipSalac12's already back on track ✌️
— MotoGP™???? (@MotoGP) April 1, 2023
That is impressive, @gresiniracing! ????#ArgentinaGP ???????? pic.twitter.com/HDQ13Dd1gX
As the riders came back into the pits before their 2nd run of the session, Salac brought the wounded Gresini machine back to the box for the Gresini crew to quickly turn around and send the Czech rider back out on track with under five minutes remaining. Salac gave it everything he had but only managed 13th place.
As usual lap times came flying in during the closing stages of the session. Chantra quickly pushed Dixon off the top spot with Aron Canet setting a stunner soon after to reshuffle the order once again. At this point, it was Canet, from Chantra and Dixon but fast laps were still coming in. It was then Alonso Lopez who nailed the final sector to snatch pole position out of nowhere, with Canet, Chantra, and Dixon dropping a place each to 2nd, 3rd, and 4th respectively, and Portimao winner Pedro Acosta rounding out the top 5.
Sunday's Moto2™ race commences at 12:15 local time (GMT), in the meantime keep up to date with all the action on motogp.com!
Top 10:
1. Alonso Lopez (Beta Tools Speed Up) – 1:42.472
2. Aron Canet (Pons Wegow Los40) + 0.041
3. Somkiat Chantra (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) + 0.048
4. Jake Dixon (Solunion GASGAS Aspar Team) + 0.114
5. Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) + 0.202
6. Celestino Vietti (Fantic Racing) + 0.220
7. Manuel Gonzalez (Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Master Camp) + 0.323
8. Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) + 0.493
9. Joe Roberts (Italtrans Racing Team) + 0.525
10. Albert Arenas (Red Bull KTM Ajo) + 0.549