Moto3

Bastianini Bags First Career Pole in Barcelona

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Enea Bastianini will start from the first pole position of his Grand Prix career in Barcelona tomorrow after breaking the Catalunya circuit record in qualifying. The Italian teenager produced a sensational lap in the closing minutes to seal top spot with championship leader Danny Kent the only rider able to get within seven tenths of his time.

The Gresini rider looked competitive right from the start of qualifying with a 1:51.001 giving him a half second lead at the ten minute mark but it wasn’t until the final ten minutes were underway that the action truly commenced. In keeping with recent Moto3 sessions, the entire field seemed to hit the track at once with many seen waiting on the back straight for a slipstream, surely catching the attention of race direction with their antics.

The Estrella Galicia teammates somehow managed to navigate their way through the chaos to go first and second with Fabio Quartararo and Jorge Navarro breaking into the 1:50s but Bastianini responded with a lap almost a second faster than the rookies, clocking a 1:50.137 to regain provisional pole.

Attention then switched to the scrap for second place and Efren Vazquez looked to have the edge having set a 1:50.894 to edge out Quartararo but as the chequered flag flew, Mugello winner Miguel Oliveira went three hundredths faster to demote the Spaniard. Thankfully for Leopard, their lead rider was still on track and Danny Kent delivered with a 1:50.281 securing his place in the middle of the front row while Navarro struck back for Estrella Galicia, moving back into third.

Niccolo Antonelli left it late to snatch fourth with Oliveira and Vazquez rounding out the second row while Quartararo’s failure to improve in the dying seconds saw him punted back to seventh. The French rookie will have Niklas Ajo and Philipp Oettl for company on row three with Hiroki Ono maintaining his impressive run of results with tenth on the grid.

 

MOTO3  G.P. MONSTER ENERGY DE CATALUNYA: QUALIFYING RESULT

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