Moto2: Oliveira smiling after Argentinian pole position

Red Bull KTM rider Miguel Oliveira will start only his second Grand Prix on brand new KTM machinery from pole position, after making the most of challenging conditions to take the top spot for tomorrow’s Argentinian Grand Prix.

The Portuguese rider slipped and slid his way to the top spot on slick tyres despite the damp but drying Termas de Rio Hondo circuit, coming away 0.099 ahead of the Marc VDS duo of Qatar race winner Franco Morbidelli and teammate Alex Marquez.

Thomas Luthi heads the Kalex-dominated second row from Jesko Raffin and Mattia Pasini, ahead of Sandro Cortese’s Suter and Xavi Vierge’s Tech 3 Mistral machine to make it four manufacturers in the top eight. Xavier Simeon and Lorenzo Baldassarri round out the top ten.

Former Moto3 word champion Danny Kent was twelfth, happy with his pace even if it wasn’t reflected in his time after making a handful of mistakes on his final flying lap.