Andrea Iannone confirmed his dominant free practice form by taking pole position for the Moto2 Dutch TT at Assen, but the Italian's task was made easier after Alex Debon suffered an unfortunate accident early in the session.
Having just set the fastest time at the beginning of qualifying, Debon was forced to run wide through the quick Ramshoek corner and found himself running over grass and curbing on the exit. This meant that he was unable to engage the brakes enough to avoid hitting what appeared to be a slow-moving Ratthapark Wilairot. The ensuing impact was enough to break Debon's right collarbone.
Such was the Spaniard's early pace on the FTR that his fastest lap time wasn't bettered by Iannone for half the session. And then only after a second big shunt caused a red flag when Gabor Talsmacsi crashed out unhurt, but with his Speed Up bike lying prone on the racing line.
Axel Pons also suffered a big accident later in the session, lying in agony on the track for several minutes before being taken to the medical center.
In the end Iannone improved his time in the final moments to secure pole with a 1m39.092sec ahead of Wilairot, whose eventful session ended with him securing his first front-row start.
Debon was classified third, but is not expected to start, while Showa Tomizawa was fourth fastest, recovering well from his own shunt in the morning's practice session.
Thomas Luthi was the fastest Moriwaki rider in fifth, just ahead of the similarly equipped championship leader Toni Elias. Julian Simon was seventh, Fonzi Nieto eighth and Claudio Corti ninth. His teammate and Silverstone winner Jules Cluzel completed the top 10.