Jorge Martin set the pace in qualifying to take pole position from Enea Bastianini and Aron Canet…I think.
And the reason I say ‘I think’ is that we never truly know the Moto3 grid until Sunday morning. Another complete farce of a tow-fest will surely see penalities handed out left right and centre. Every rider (except Marcos Ramirez) came into pit lane and waited until there was only three minutes left of the session to go back out – that’s just enough time for an out lap and one flying lap. Martin had put himself in a good position before coming back in, as he sat in provisional pole half a second quicker than anyone else. But he left it the longest to head back out on track with only two minutes to go – presumably to make sure all the riders hanging around for a tow (which is all of them) had gone. Martin sneaked across the line with seconds to spare, and started to shave seconds off his own time before unfortunately succumbing to the gravel. He didn’t complete his fast lap, but still set pole position.
In fact, every rider was completing their flying lap after the flag had gone out, because they were spending too much time on their out lap hanging around and ‘accidentally’ running off track. Andrea Migno, Juanfran Guevara, Fabio Di Giannantonio, Joan Mir and Adam Norrodin were among the names that were trying it on, but it didn’t work out as planned for the five of them. Initially Norrodin took a tumble, but because they were so bunched up from trying to get that perfect tow, they tumbled over each other on their only chance at a flying lap, ending their chances of improving their grid position.
I say this every race weekend, but something needs to be done about towing in Moto3. While grid penaltes and fines seem like a good idea on paper, they’re clearly not deterring either the rider or the team.
Top ten (provisional):
- Jorge Martin, Del Conca Gresini Moto3 – 1:58.067
- Enea Bastiaini, Estrella Galicia 0,0 +0.358
- Aron Canet, Estrella Galicia 0,0 +0.449
- Nicolo Bulega, Sky Racing Team VR46 +0.526
- Dennis Foggia, Sky Junior Team VR46 Junior Academy +0.701
- Joan Mir, Leopard Racing +0.717
- John McPhee, British Talent Team +0.746
- Philipp Oettl, Südmetall Schedl GP Racing +0.894
- Tatsuki Suzuki, SIC58 Squadra Corse +0.909
- Marcos Ramirez, Platinum Bay Real Estate +0.918
