Moto3

Last Gasp Bastianini Snatches Pole in Germany

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Enea Bastianini claimed his second Moto3 pole position in succession with a perfectly-timed lap in the dying seconds of qualifying at the Sachsenring. The Gresini rider denied compatriot Andrea Locatelli his maiden pole but a dramatic start to the session saw three other Italians involved in spectacular crashes.

Unbeknown to much of the field, Danny Webb’s Platinum Bay Real Estate Mahindra had started to leak oil in the second sector of the lap, causing the Briton to crash out at turn six. The reduced grip at turn four soon caused chaos with Romano Fenati high-siding his KTM while Niccolo Antonelli suffered an identical crash moments later, fracturing his collarbone and ending his weekend. With Fabio Di Giannantonio also coming to grief at the left-hander, race direction brought a halt to the session while the track was cleaned.

Championship leader Brad Binder topped the timesheets prior to the stoppage but the South African was knocked off the top by Locatelli as soon as the session went green again, the Leopard rider clocking a 1:27.497. His teammate Joan Mir was involved in an incident though, colliding with another of the unfortunate Italians, Sky VR46’s Andrea Migno.

Just as Locatelli started to consider a possible pole position, Bastianini changed matters with a sensational 1:27.129 despite the inevitable traffic. Locatelli still maintained a career-best second while Aron Canet completed the front row ahead of fellow rookie Bo Bendsneyder, also a career-best in fourth.

The fit-again Jorge Navarro qualified a superb fifth, ahead of title rival Binder while Jules Danilo took seventh ahead of John McPhee, back on form after a dreadful start to the year. Hiroki Ono rounds out the third row with Jorge Martin, another rider to tumble early in the session, tenth on the Aspar Mahindra. Fenati eventually re-joined after his spill, climbing to eighteenth.

 

Moto3 GoPro Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland (Qualifying Classification)

[table id=1273 /]

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