Espargaro takes 7th pole position of the season, Rabat just off front row, Pons 25th

The Circuito Ricardo Tormo is the scene of the final race of the season and on Saturday Pol Espargaro was once again the man to beat. The Tuenti HP 40 rider dominated proceedings on the opening day and today confirmed it with another pole position, his seventh of the season. He stamped his authority with a laptime 0.318s ahead of second fastest rider Simone Corsi, a considerable margin when compared to the gaps behind second position. Starting from pole, Espargaro will look to sign off his great season with another victory – having always won this year when he started from pole.

Once again one of his main rivals will be teammate Tito Rabat in 4th, who also still has the chance to become runner-up in the championship, sitting 20 points behind Scott Redding who will start from 17th tomorrow. Rabat is struggling with chattering issues, but hopes to improve in Sunday’s morning warmup to maintain his options for a good result in the season final.

Axel Pons didn’t qualify well, but his position doesn’t reflect his race pace. He wasn’t able to put one quick lap together, but doesn’t lose hope to end the 2013 season with a good result.

1º Pol Espargaró “Despite already being world champion I would like to leave here with a victory. It would be nice to sign off on a high, both from he category and the team. I have to say again that the team has worked a lot during the entire season and the only thing I can do is to return it this way, giving everything until the last session, until the last race. They deserve it and therefore I will continue this way until the last lap, when everything is done.”

4º Tito Rabat “It was a tough session. To be honest we had a lot of chatter on the bike, I lacked a bit of grip, but we’ll see tomorrow in the warm-up if we can find what we miss, this little bit, can get a goot start and battle until the end of the race.”

25º Axel Pons “We have a good pace, the only thing is that we were not able to put together a good lap. We have problems with the rear tyre, it’s sliding more than usual. But despite that we made a good step ahead of the race, so I hope to take advantage of that tomorrow to push hard for a comeback and finish the last race of the season on a high.”

Source: Pons Racing