Canet beats Roberts and takes pole in Misano

Moto2™ added further excitement to the Gran Premio Pramac dell’Emilia-Romagna on Saturday as Aron Canet (Fantic Racing) set an incredible pace to storm into pole position. The #44 had a brilliant morning, finishing Practice 2 in P1 and setting an incredible 1’34.935 in Q2 – breaking the lap record. Meanwhile, Joe Roberts (OnlyFans American Racing Team) set an incredible time to take a surprise second place – just 0.004s off P1. The #16 started from P2, alongside Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team), who sat in P1 for most of the session but was dropped to P3 – failing to score two pole positions in a row.

The lap record is broken at the start of Q2

Things heated up on Saturday morning as Canet stormed to the top of the timesheets with a time of 1:35.154 in FP2. The number 44 set a new lap record on Saturday and with a torrid pace at the front left some key names outside the top 14 including Alonso Lopez (MB Conveyors SpeedUp) and Diogo Moreira (Italtrans Racing Team). It was a crucial afternoon session with Zonta Van den Goorbergh (RW-Idrofoglia Racing GP), Dennis Foggia (Italtrans Racing Team), Senna Agius (Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP) and Lopez all securing a place in Q2.

At the start of Q2, the lap record was broken on the opening lap after a stunning lap from Arbolino. The Italian soon continued to improve his time to become the first Moto2 rider to get into the 1’34 range at Misano. Canet and Dixon would secure the provisional front row starting positions as attention turned to the final five minutes. As always, things were heating up as Somkiat Chantra (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) crashed at Turn 9 and Celestino Vietti (Red Bull KTM Ajo), Roberts and then Canet all improved on their final flying lap.

Ogura leads the third row

Vietti will start from the second row of the grid and will be demoted to fourth as the Italian prepares to start ahead of Jake Dixon (CFMOTO Inde Aspar Team), with the #96 rounding out the top five positions. It was a strong session for Dixon, who started ahead of Fermin Aldeguer (MB Conveyors SpeedUp) on Sunday, while the #54 qualified sixth for Sunday and started as the best Boscoscuro rider.

Championship leader Ai Ogura (MT Helmets – MSI) finished the day 0.372s off Canet’s best time – and qualified seventh. The number 79 improved on his alertness and the final flying lap to start alongside Van Den Goorbergh, who finished eighth in the middle of the third row after a tough battle in Q1, placing alongside Foggia after the Italian completed a great qualifying session. Further back, Sergio Garcia (MT Helmets – MSI) will start from 13th on the grid and will have some work to do on race day.

Don’t miss any of the action on Sunday when the lights go out for the Intermediate Division at 11:15am local time (UTC +2) and more drama will unfold!