Mugello Moto2: Lowes beats Nakagami by 0.047s to clinch pole

The British rider lapped the Italian track in 1m51.965s to head the timesheets from Nakagami, with Lorenzo Baldassarri securing a front row start in third, just a further 0.076s back.

Forward rider Baldassarri held the top spot for a large part of the session before Lowes became the only rider to dip beneath the 1m52s to clinch pole.

Axel Pons headed the second row having qualified fourth, 0.005s behind Baldassarri and fractionally ahead of Marcel Schrotter and reigning champion Johann Zarco.

Le Mans polesitter Thomas Luthi managed only the seventh quickest time with Simone Corsi eighth, the Speed Up rider falling twice in the 45-minute session.

Championship leader Alex Rins also suffered a fall in the dying moments, finishing ninth, while Luca Marini completed the top 10 on the second Forward bike.

Marc Marquez's younger brother Alex was 14th, while 2015 Moto3 champion Danny Kent could no more than 18th, just behind MotoGP-bound Jonas Folger.

A fairly incident-free and competitive session saw the top 20 riders covered within a second of polesitter Lowes.

Qualifying results:

Pos	Rider	Bike	Time
1	Sam Lowes	Kalex	1:51.965
2	Takaaki Nakagami	Kalex	1:52.012
3	Lorenzo Baldassarri	Kalex	1:52.088
4	Axel Pons	Kalex	1:52.091
5	Marcel Schrötter	Kalex	1:52.134
6	Johann Zarco	Kalex	1:52.198
7	Thomas Luthi	Kalex	1:52.265
8	Simone Corsi	Speed Up	1:52.321
9	Alex Rins	Kalex	1:52.321
10	Luca Marini	Kalex	1:52.330
11	Sandro Cortese	Kalex	1:52.343
12	Dominique Aegerter	Kalex	1:52.361
13	Franco Morbidelli	Kalex	1:52.394
14	Alex Marquez	Kalex	1:52.399
15	Hafizh Syahrin	Kalex	1:52.466
16	Luis Salom	Kalex	1:52.624
17	Jonas Folger	Kalex	1:52.652
18	Danny Kent	Kalex	1:52.694
19	Xavier Simeon	Speed Up	1:52.743
20	Julian Simon	Speed Up	1:52.754
21	Miguel Oliveira	Kalex	1:53.170
22	Mattia Pasini	Kalex	1:53.238
23	Ratthapark Wilairot	Kalex	1:53.318
24	Robin Mulhauser	Kalex	1:53.623
25	Ricard Cardus	Suter	1:53.778
26	Isaac Viñales	Tech 3	1:53.806
27	Edgar Pons	Kalex	1:53.881
28	Federico Fuligni	Kalex	1:53.949
29	Xavi Vierge	Tech 3	1:54.288
30	Alessandro Tonucci	Kalex	1:54.832
31	Jesko Raffin	Kalex	1:55.197