Enea Bastianini took his first pole position of the 2017 season after another chaotic conclusion to a Moto3 qualifying session at Misano. The Estrella Galicia rider, who claimed his maiden victory here two years ago, managed to find enough space in amongst the relentless traffic to edge out qualifying specialist Jorge Martin and championship leader Joan Mir.
The championship frontrunners endured difficult starts to the session with Mir seen taking a detour through the gravel at Quercia but that was nothing compared to his nearest rival Aron Canet who suffered a dramatic high-side at the penultimate corner. The Silverstone winner was forced to visit the medical centre before re-joining the action, leaving him way outside the top ten as the final runs commenced.
Predictably, most of the field exited the pits together and the close racing ultimately created a terrifying accident in the dying seconds. Gabriel Rodrigo, who was on target for a provisional pole time, lost control on the exit of the final corner and as the KTM slid back across the track, Livio Loi was powerless to avoid the machine, sending him skywards. Remarkably, the Belgian was quickly back on his feet but neither would improve on their early lap times.
In the mayhem, Bastianini had snatched pole on a 1:42.147 with Martin and Mir climbing onto the front row at the expense of early pacesetter Fabio Di Giannantonio who slipped to fourth. Romano Fenati, who chose to circulate alone in the final minutes, qualified fifth ahead of Rodrigo while Ayumu Sasaki took a career-best seventh, edging out the Red Bull Ajo KTMs of Niccolo Antonelli and Bo Bendsneyder.
Nicolo Bulega completed the top ten for Sky VR46 with Canet eventually salvaging eleventh.
Moto3 Tribul Mastercard GP San Marino e Riviera di Rimini: Qualifying
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