Rate it!

5 votes

Mike di Meglio took pole position for the 125cc Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island from Briton Bradley Smith.

It was the second pole position of the World Championship leader's career, with the last coming in the previous round at Motegi.

The Derbi-riding Frenchman, who also led the way in the first session, laid down a time of one minute and 37.553 seconds only a third of the way through to ultimately edge out Englishman Smith (pictured) by 0.238 seconds.

Smith crashed around the halfway point but recovered to take a last-gasp second with his final lap after the chequered flag.

Smith's fellow Aprilia riders Stefan Bradl and Nicolas Terol completed the front row .

Andrea Iannone took fifth late on ahead of Sandro Cortese, who was thrown off his bike with the seconds ticking down.

Simone Corsi, now 36 points behind Di Meglio in the championship standings, will start from eighth on the grid behind Raffaele de Rosa and ahead of Gabor Talmacsi.

Di Meglio will be aiming to leave Australia with a lead of over 50 points - which would see him crowned world champion with two rounds remaining.

Jonathan Symcox / Eurosport