Aron Canet defied a late rain shower to claim pole position for tomorrow’s German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring. The Spaniard usurped Joan Mir in the dying seconds with the championship leader kept waiting for his first pole position of the season.
In the early stages of qualifying, Tony Arbolino threatened an upset as the 16-year-old rookie moved into provisional pole, clocking a 1:27.228 with dark clouds gathering. The SIC58 rider was knocked off the top spot by Nicolo Bulega shortly before the halfway mark but Mir soon established his superiority, becoming the first rider to break the 1:27 barrier.
With rain now starting to fall, Mir looked to have a first pole position of the year in the bag, his team so confident that conditions wouldn’t improve that they were already congratulating their rider. A number of riders sitting in lowly grid positions opted to test out the conditions with five minutes to go and as soon as personal best sector times appeared on the screens, the entire field was forced back into action.
The most significant improvement of them all came from Canet who leapt from the second row to pole position, pulling out a quarter of a second on Mir. Bulega held onto a front row spot in third while Marcos Ramirez slipped back onto the second row in fourth, just ahead of Arbolino.
Romano Fenati starts sixth, although his position may be under threat after riding slowly as he gesticulated at his rivals, while Philipp Oettl leads the home challenge from seventh. Bo Bendsneyder lines up eighth with Enea Bastianini and John McPhee rounding out the top ten.
Moto3 GoPro Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland – Qualifying
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