A final flying lap effort from Andrea Migno saw the Italian edge out compatriot Dennis Foggia in the battle for pole position in Moto3 Q2 at the Grand Prix of The Americas.
Just 0.067s split the duo as Xavier Artigas (CFMoto Racing PrüstelGP) comes through Q1 to claim a fantastic first ever front row, with World Championship leader Sergio Garcia (Gaviota GASGAS Aspar Team) taking P15 and left with work to do on Sunday.
Q1
Joining the fray in the Q2 shootout from Q1 were Artigas, who took over late on and denied Scott Ogden (VisionTrack Racing Team) the honours of topping the session. They were joined by Stefano Nepa (Angeluss MTA Team) and Elia Bartolini (QJMotor Avintia Racing Team) as the fight for pole got underway.
Q2
Guevara set the early pace with a 2:16.609 as Foggia sat P9 after his first effort, but the times would tumble on the next set of flying times. Migno then took over by 0.127s from Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Tech3), with Foggia climbing to P4 with six and a half minutes to go. As he always tries to do, the 2021 runner-up was lapping alone…
On his fifth flying lap, having not pitted for fresh rubber, Foggia pulled a phenomenal final sector out the hat and took provisional pole by 0.058s with just under two minutes to go.
That was then 0.086s as Foggia improved again, but on their final laps, Migno and Artigas bettered the Italian. With one last shot at it, Foggia did improve once again but his last attempt wasn’t quite enough – Migno bagged pole by 0.067s ahead of the Leopard Racing rider.
The Grid
Behind Migno, Foggia and Artigas, Öncü will start from P4 in Austin with Jaume Masia (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and rookie Diogo Moreira (MT Helmets – MSI) joining the Turkish rider on the second row. Moreira is once again the top rookie.
Daniel Holgado (Red Bull KTM Ajo) was once again close to the Brazilian however, with veteran Japanese duo Kaito Toba (CIP Green Power) and Ayumu Sasaki (Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max) locking out Row 3 alongside the 2021 FIM Moto3™ Junior World Champion.
Izan Guevara (Gaviota GASGAS Aspar Team), last year’s winner in Texas, completed the top 10, and teammate Garcia, the title leader and Argentina GP winner, has a mountain to climb from P15 on Sunday. Can the GASGAS guys move forward?
Make sure you tune into the Moto3 race at a later time than usual in Austin to find out, with lights out at 14:30 for the lightweight class.
