Home hero Enea Bastianini took pole position in the closing minutes of Moto3 qualifying, ahead of Jorge Martin and championship leader Joan Mir.
Fabio Di Giannantonio set a new qualifying lap record on his way to sealing the temporary top spot, but got pushed back to fourth once all riders came back out the pits in the final ten minutes. Nicolo Bulega was put under immense pressure as his fastest lap time was cancelled due to exceeding track limits at turn six, and he dropped from eighth to eleventh. As he came back out of the pits, he pushed hard but just couldn’t keep up and qualified in tenth.
Aron Canet has been extremely impressive this weekend, topping two out of the three sessions. But a huge crash on the entry to turn fifteen saw him whisked off to the medical centre, and just as it looked as if he wouldn’t make it out for the rest of the session, he entered his garage ready to qualify. He only managed an eleventh place start, but he’ll still be one to watch come race day.
Moto3 qualifying was the usual tow-fest, with all riders exiting pit lane painstakingly slow waiting for tows. Because it took them so long to come out, it meant they only had time for one fast lap after their out lap. And as the checkered flag came out, Bastianini crossed the line a tenth quicker than his closest rival Martin. Mir hasn’t looked comfortable at Misano this weekend, but qualifying on the front row of the grid is sure to do his confidence at the Italian track some good.
All attention was drawn away from the line as Gabriel Rodrigo and Livio Loi exited the final corner. Rodrigo lost control of the RBA BOE machinery and his bike went flying into the path of an unsuspecting Loi, who was hurled into the air and landed on the track side of pit lane. Both riders were up and ok, and Loi was extremely lucky to walk away from the incident relatively unscathed.
Top ten:
- Enea Bastianini (Estrella Galicia 0,0) – 1:42.147
- Jorge Martin (Del Conca Gresini Moto3) +0.173
- Joan Mir (Leopard Racing) +0.225
- Fabio Di Giannantonio (Del Conca Gresini Moto3) +0.244
- Romano Fenati (Marinelli Rivacold Snipers) +0.326
- Gabriel Rodrigo (RBA BOE Racing Team) +0.338
- Ayumu Sasaki (SIC Racing Team) +0.428
- Niccolo Antonelli (Red Bull KTM Ajo) +0.447
- Bo Bendsneyder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) +0.448
- Nicolo Bulega (Sky Racing Team VR46) +0.489
Full results at motogp.com
