Gabriel Rodrigo (RBA BOE Racing Team) has taken his second consecutive pole position, from his team mate Juanfran Guevara and Aron Canet (Estrella Galicia 0,0).
We’re used to seeing Moto3 riders dawdling around the pit exit waiting for a tow, and why should today be any different? It’s something that’s becoming a long standing joke, and something that needs changing fast. Riders and teams clearly aren’t bothered by grid place penalties, and no race disqualifications have been dished out yet – something that is stated in the new rules. A Superpole session (as used in British Superbikes) is the ideal solution, as one rider will go out at a time and there will be nobody for them to get a slipstream off.
It’s not just dawdling that’s catching riders out. Joan Mir (Leopard Racing) had his second place qualifying position taken away for exceeding track limits – something that we’re seeing a lot of this weekend. At a crucial time in the championship, Mir has been shunted back to tenth for tomorrow’s race.
Towards the end of the session, we saw a rather animated Romano Fenati (Marinelli Rivacold Snipers) waving his arms around at Fabio Di Giannantonio (Del Conca Gresini Moto3) for what seemed like no good reason. Once the session was over, both racers lined up for a practice start where we saw Fenati go off on one again, this time getting in Di Giannantonio’s face and motioning for him to “just go”. It bared no relevance to the overall session, but it was amusing, and showed us that an angry Fenati makes a quick practice start.
The results are still subject to change, however the provisional top ten is as follows:
- Gabriel Rodrigo- RBA BOE Racing Team – 1:36.503
- Juanfran Guevara- RBA BOE Racing Team +0.112
- Aron Canet- Estrella Galicia 0,0 +0.187
- Enea Bastianini- Estrella Galicia 0,0 +0.213
- John McPhee- British Talent Team +0.287
- Bo Bendsneyder- Red Bull KTM Ajo +0.290
- Andrea Migno- Sky Racing Team VR46 +0.308
- Philipp Oettl- Südmetall Schedl GP Racing +0.452
- Fabio Di Giannantonio- Del Conca Gresini Moto3 +0.464
- Joan Mir- Leopard Racing +0.486
Full results at http://www.motogp.com/en/Results+Statistics/2017 and updates on penalties on @motogp Twitter.
