Danny Kent produced yet another blistering performance in a sensational 2015 campaign to claim pole position for the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello. The Briton spent much of the session waiting in the pits but once he returned to the race track, Kent unleashed a burst of pace that none of his rivals could get close to.
The championship leader made a bright start to the session, clocking a 1:57.832, but the value of a slipstream down the long pit straight was already becoming apparent as Niccolo Antonelli edged ahead by a tenth of a second, finding all of the time in the final sector. Kent soon responded to regain provisional pole but with so much time being lost out of the final corner, the Leopard Racing rider returned to his garage, waiting until the end of the session to make his move.
In his absence, Miguel Oliveira took over at the top of the leaderboard on a 1:57.647 but his spell as provisional polesitter was all-too brief as Romano Fenati, one of the many home favourites, clocked a 1:57.319. Fenati was chasing a maiden Moto3 pole position and the slipstream provided by Maria Herrera certainly played a part in his improvement, but his time was soon put in perspective when Kent returned to the action.
Choosing not to follow other riders, Kent circulated alone and within the first two sectors of his opening hot lap, the Briton was a second underneath Fenati’s benchmark. The lack of a tow did see that advantage shrink but Kent still claimed a comfortable pole position on a 1:56.615, the fastest ever Moto3 lap of Mugello.
Hiroki Ono latched onto the tail of his teammate in the closing stages to grab second, his career best qualifying result, while Fenati held onto third to claim just the second front row start of his career. Karel Hanika also qualified higher than ever before in fourth, edging out early polesitter Antonelli, with Jakub Kornfeil rounding out the second row.
Enea Bastianini will go in search of his maiden victory from seventh spot with compatriots Francesco Bagnaia and Andrea Locatelli for company on row three while Isaac Vinales completed the top ten, pushing Oliveira down to eleventh.
MOTO3 GRAN PREMIO D’ITALIA TIM: QUALIFYING RESULT
[table id=317 /]
