A third pole of 2022 for the Spaniard as two of the Championship contenders qualify deep in the field
Good things come to those who wait, and Aron Canet (Flexbox HP40) had to wait a very long time to claim pole position for the Moto2™ race at the Motul Grand Prix of Japan. Heavy rain hammered the Mobility Resort Motegi minutes into Q2 for the intermediate class, leading to a delay of more than 90 minutes before the field was let loose again. Despite having to reacclimatise to the conditions all over again, Canet charged to a 2:04.939 to secure top spot on the grid by an official margin of 0.730 seconds, with Jake Dixon (Shimoku GASGAS Aspar team) and Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) to join him on the front row. The top two in the World Championship, however, are much further back.
Canet dropped into Q1 but topped that earlier, 15-minute stanza to book his place in the fight for pole position. Given the changeable weather at Motegi, there was talk that going the long way around in qualifying might be an advantage due to track knowledge. A great theory, but there was no chance to really test it when Race Control opted to red flag Q2 after just over five minutes in response to pouring rain, as well as thunder and lightning in the vicinity.
When pit lane eventually did open again, Canet was immediately on it, lapping each time at anywhere from a few tenths of a second to more than half a second quicker than the rest. As the rain started to ease off, he laid down a 2:04.939 just before the chequered flag, snatching top spot back from Fermin Aldeguer (Beta Tools Speed Up) after the Boscoscuro pilot had clocked a 2:05.272. Unfortunately for Aldeguer, a crash ahead meant his lap was scratched for being set with a yellow flag out, meaning Dixon was promoted to second courtesy of his 2:05.669 and Arbolino was onto the front row having clocked a 2:05.891 with the chequered flag out.
How the rest of the grid looks
Row 2 will be Somkiat Chantra (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia), Filip Salac (Gresini Racing Moto2™), and Aldeguer, with Row 3 made up of Jorge Navarro (Flexbox HP40), Cameron Beaubier (American Racing), and Keminth Kubo (Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Team), with the top 10 rounded out by Barry Baltus (RW Racing GP). We have to go all the way back to the middle of Row 4 to find World Championship leader Augusto…