Romano Fenati picked the perfect time to clinch his second pole position of the season, topping the qualifying timesheets on home soil at Mugello. The Italian led a Sky Racing Team VR46 1-2 ahead of Andrea Migno who used his compatriot’s slipstream to take a career-best second while Khairul Idham Pawi pipped championship leader Brad Binder to third.
On his return to Moto3 after an injury-enforced absence at Le Mans, Enea Bastianini made an early bid for pole position with a 1:58.440 but Fenati soon demonstrated the power of a slipstream around Mugello, using the draft down the home straight to clock a 1:57.794. On his second run, Romano found another half-second, working in tandem with his teammate Migno, and a 1:57.289 would ultimately prove good enough for pole.
Niccolo Antonelli’s hopes were dashed shortly before the halfway mark when a high-side at Bucine sent his Ongetta Honda careering into the barriers. In his absence, a group of Italians did make progress though with Migno climbing back up to second, moments after being demoted by the impressive Pawi. Francesco Bagnaia also rose up the order and looked set to secure an all-Italian front row when he leapt up to second but the Mahindra rider was adjudged to have exceeded track limits at turn five, causing his lap time to be deleted.
With Bagnaia relegated to eighth, Brad Binder ended the session in fourth after failing to improve on his final run, finding himself a target for a slipstream. Title rival Jorge Navarro will start alongside in fifth with Bastianini completing the second row. Nicolo Bulega will start his first-ever home Grand Prix in seventh ahead of Bagnaia while Aron Canet and Joan Mir, two of Bulega’s former CEV rivals, completed the top ten.
Moto3 Gran Premio d’Italia TIM (Qualifying Classification)
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