Andrea Migno will start from the first pole position of his career in tomorrow’s Japanese Grand Prix after a penalty for Hiroki Ono. The Team Asia rider topped the timesheets in qualifying but any hopes of pole position on home soil were dashed by a three place grid penalty for irresponsible riding in FP1 yesterday, promoting Migno to the front of the grid.
Although Ono wouldn’t have been considered a pole position candidate prior to the session, the Japanese rider was competitive throughout, taking provisional pole at the halfway stage. His spell on top was ended by Nicolo Bulega but a dramatic final minute saw everything turned on its head again.
In typical Moto3 fashion, traffic dominated the closing stages with Bulega choosing to ride through the pit-lane to shake off the pack of riders following him. Enea Bastianini was able to find enough space to clock a 1:56.664 but within seconds, he was punted back down to third as Brad Binder took pole, followed in rapid succession by Migno and Ono.
Ono eventually emerged as the fastest man but Migno’s lap in the slipstream of Binder proved crucial as the Sky VR46 rider took pole, a tenth ahead of the new world champion. Bastianini will round out the front row ahead of Ono with Bulega relegated to fifth, just ahead of the third Sky VR46 KTM of Lorenzo Dalla Porta.
Niccolo Antonelli qualified seventh despite being caught up in a late crash with Juanfran Guevara while Fabio Quartararo also tumbled on his way to eighth place. Adam Norrodin starts a superb ninth while Philipp Oettl completes the top ten.
Moto3 Motul Grand Prix of Japan (Qualifying Result)
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