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Sandro Cortese beats Maverick Vinales to Estoril Moto3 pole

Sandro Cortese scored his second pole position of the 2012 Moto3 campaign with an emphatic showing at Estoril

The 22-year-old German had set the pace for much of the session, but with eight minutes to go was displaced at the top by Spain's Maverick Vinales.

Cortese was on his own flying run however and settled the battle with a 1m47.145s, sending him more than three tenths clear.

For a long while it appeared Britain's Danny Kent was set to join Cortese and Vinales on the front row, but as the chequered flag fell he was pushed down to fourth by home favourite Miguel Oliviera.

The Portuguese rider needed two efforts - the second his very final lap of the session - to dislodge Kent, who nevertheless scored a career-best result of fourth.

He will share the second row with Malaysian Zulfahmi Khairuddin and current points leader Romano Fenati.

A measure of just how good Cortese's lap proved was the fact that Fenati, the youngest ever rider to lead the championship, finished more than 1s down.

It was an all-Spanish third row, with Luis Salom edging out Efren Vazquez and Hector Faubel.

Jerez polesitter Alex Rins finished way down the order in 22nd.

Pos  Rider                Team/Bike                Time       Gap
 1.  Sandro Cortese       Ajo KTM                  1m47.145s
 2.  Maverick Vinales     Avintia FTR-Honda        1m47.460s  + 0.315s
 3.  Miguel Oliveira      Monlau Honda             1m47.916s  + 0.771s
 4.  Danny Kent           Ajo KTM                  1m47.950s  + 0.805s
 5.  Muhammad Zulfahmi    Ajo KTM                  1m48.083s  + 0.938s
 6.  Romano Fenati        Italia FMI FTR-Honda     1m48.191s  + 1.046s
 7.  Luis Salom           RW Kalex-KTM             1m48.238s  + 1.093s
 8.  Efren Vazquez        Laglisse Honda           1m48.299s  + 1.154s
 9.  Hector Faubel        Aspar Kalex-KTM          1m48.349s  + 1.204s
10.  Alexis Masbou        Caretta Honda            1m48.476s  + 1.331s
11.  Jakub Kornfeil       Ongetta FTR-Honda        1m48.478s  + 1.333s
12.  Niccolo Antonelli    Gresini Honda            1m48.696s  + 1.551s
13.  Adrian Martin        Laglisse Honda           1m48.871s  + 1.726s
14.  Brad Binder          RW Kalex-KTM             1m48.900s  + 1.755s
15.  Louis Rossi          Germany FTR-Honda        1m48.927s  + 1.782s
16.  Arthur Sissis        Ajo KTM                  1m49.013s  + 1.868s
17.  Alberto Moncayo      Aspar Kalex-KTM          1m49.154s  + 2.009s
18.  Danny Webb           Mahindra                 1m49.326s  + 2.181s
19.  Alex Marquez         Estrella Suter Honda     1m49.374s  + 2.229s
20.  Alan Techer          Technomag-CIP TSR-Honda  1m49.377s  + 2.232s
21.  Alessandro Tonucci   Italia FMI FTR-Honda     1m49.397s  + 2.252s
22.  Alex Rins            Monlau Honda             1m49.447s  + 2.302s
23.  Marcel Schrotter     Mahindra                 1m49.752s  + 2.607s
24.  Joan Olive           TT Motion KTM            1m49.880s  + 2.735s
25.  Manuel Tatasciore    Caretta Honda            1m50.117s  + 2.972s
26.  Ivan Moreno          Laglisse FTR-Honda       1m50.176s  + 3.031s
27.  Isaac Vinales        Ongetta FTR-Honda        1m50.220s  + 3.075s
28.  Jasper Iwema         FGR-Honda                1m51.193s  + 4.048s
29.  Giulian Pedone       Ambrogio Oral            1m51.288s  + 4.143s
30.  Toni Finsterbusch    MZ-Honda                 1m51.583s  + 4.438s
31.  Kevin Hanus          Sabo Honda               1m52.275s  + 5.130s
32.  Luigi Morciano       Ioda                     1m52.630s  + 5.485s
33.  Kenta Fujii          Technomag-CIP TSR-Honda  1m52.820s  + 5.675s
34.  Armando Pontone      Ioda Racing Project      1m53.408s  + 6.263s

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