The Mooney VR46 Racing Team’s Celestino Vietti has taken a precious Moto2™ pole position at the Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya. The Italian has seen his World Championship lead whittled down to a countback only in recent rounds, but the last-gasp 1:43.823 which he set in Q2 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya gives him a great platform to start rebuilding his margin on the points table. Missing out on pole by just 0.008 seconds was Aron Canet (Flexbox HP40), while Joe Roberts (Italtrans Racing Team) qualified third despite setting his fastest lap in heavy traffic.

Vietti had dropped into Q1 after missing the top 14 by just 0.034 seconds following an ultra-tight FP3 earlier in the day, but safely got himself out of the opening stanza of qualifying with the second-fastest lap time of that session, a 1:44.490. It was Canet, however, who was the early pace-setter in Q2, with a 1:44.210 on his first flyer and a 1:43.831 on his second.

That was the fastest lap time of the weekend to that point, and it was still the quickest that anyone had gone in Round 9 of the season for the intermediate class when the chequered flag started to fly. Roberts had topped FP3 with a 1:44.154 but did even better than that on his final lap of qualifying, logging a 1:44.002 despite coming across considerable traffic as he started the fourth sector of the Catalunya circuit. That put the American onto the middle of the front row, before he was shifted back a spot when Vietti came through with the 1:43.823 which elevated the Italian from ninth on the timing screen to the very top.

Jake Dixon set good early pace, holding second at one point on a 1:44.045, and he was also content to help fellow Inde GASGAS Aspar Team rider Albert Arenas too. Dixon spread his limbs as wide as he could to enhance the slipstream which Arenas enjoyed as he clocked a 1:44.049 at the halfway mark of Q2, and those times would leave the Briton and the Spaniard fourth and fifth respectively. They will be joined on Row 2 of the grid by Sam Lowes (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team), while Row 3 will be comprised of Bo Bendsneyder (Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team), Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo), and Marcel Schrötter (Liqui Moly Intact GP).

Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia), who is behind Vietti in the World Championship only on a tie-break, rounded out the top 10 in qualifying, ahead of Q1 pace-setter Alonso Lopez (Lightech Speed Up) and Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo). The latter’s Q2 pace was something of a surprise considering he was only 0.002 seconds away from top spot with a 1:44.157 in FP3, yet only got onto Row 4 at the end of his next session with a 1:44.691. Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) made it out of Q1 to claim 18th on the grid, while Somkiat Chantra (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) did not make Q2 and will start from 19th position.

Can Vietti restore some of the World Championship lead which he had enjoyed until recently, will Canet get a win and finally reveal the mystery of the bowtie, or will something entirely different unfold? After a 10-minute Warm Up session, it’s lights out for Moto2™ on Sunday at 11:00 (GMT +2)!

Moto2™ Q2 Top 10:

1. Celestino Vietti (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) – 1:43.823
2. Aron Canet (Flexbox HP40) + 0.008
3. Joe Roberts (Italtrans Racing Team) + 0.179
4. Jake Dixon (Inde GASGAS Aspar Team) + 0.222
5. Albert Arenas (Inde GASGAS Aspar Team) + 0.226
6. Sam Lowes (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) + 0.367
7. Bo Bendsneyder (Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team) + 0.584
8. Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) + 0.607
9. Marcel Schrotter (Liqui Moly Intact GP) + 0.654
10. Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) + 0.668