INDIANAPOLIS, IN, SEPT. 13 – Marco Simoncelli set himself up to go for his fourth 250cc Grand Prix win of the season tomorrow by earning pole position in today’s qualifying session at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Riding his Metis Gilera, Simoncelli lapped the Indy road course in 1:45.168 to snatch pole position from Team Toth Aprilia’s Hector Barbera by .369 of a second after this afternoon’s session – the first held under bright sunshine.
Red Bull KTM’s Mika Kallio ended the session third with Lotus Aprilia’s Alex Debon completing row one for tomorrow’s inaugural Red Bull Indianapolis 250cc GP.
Of the American wild cards hoping to qualify for tomorrow’s race, only Barrett Long made the cut, the Floridian qualifying last and 7.2 seconds a lap off Simoncelli’s best lap.
Kyle Ferris wasn’t as fortunate as he failed to qualify on his Yamaha TZ250.
250cc Qualifying
1. Marco Simoncelli (Gilera) 1:45.168
2. Hector Barbera (Aprilia) 1:45.537
3. Mika Kallio (KTM) 1:45.563
4. Alex Debon (Aprilia) 1:45.601
5. Hiroshi Aoyama (KTM) 1:45.850
6. Alvaro Bautista (Aprilia) 1:46.320 7. Mattia Pasini (Aprilia) 1:46.322
8. Hector Faubel (Aprilia) 1:46.360
9. Lukas Pesek (Aprilia) 1:46.370
10. Julian Simon (KTM) 1:46.687
