Moto3: Andrea Migno Snatches Pole as Penalties Loom Once Again
By Admin
Andrea Migno is on pole for the Portuguese Grand Prix after staying behind the melee that was in front of him.
Q1 saw a few strong riders in the session. Romano Fenati, Czech rider Filip Salac and the two Japanese, Kaito Toba and Ayumu Sasaki.
The early pace was set by Red Bull KTM Tech3 rider Ayumu Sasaki. Romano Fenati came out of pitlane and went straight back in after a sighting lap. As the field came back in after their first flying laps, he went back out to set the fastest lap of the session. His teammate, youngster Adrian Fernandez also sneaked into the top 4 to advance to Q2.
Kaito Toba slipped off at Turn 6 to blow his chances of going through to the second session. He tucked the front as he released the front brake and went tumbling down the road.
Rivacold Snipers rider Filip Salac snatched a spot in Q2 at the last gasp just behind Ayumu Sasaki. He looked very happy with his lap, pulling a very stylish stoppie into pitlane.
Q2 saw the strongest riders in the field fighting for a spot as high up the grid as possible. They were led out by Jaume Masia who clearly wanted to get on with business.
As they all streamed across the line together for the first time, penalty holder Jeremy Alcoba set the early pace. He starts from pitlane tomorrow with a 5 second penalty because of his altercation with John McPhee in Qatar. The Spaniard ended the session in 3rd so everybody behind him will be bumped up one place on the grid.
Andrea Migno and Argentinian Gabriel Rodrigo did their laps on their own and went 1st and 2nd respectively after their first runs.
As we got to the business end of the session, Q1 winner Romano Fenati and rookie Xavier Artigas went out in space while the rest of the riders went out together. Fenati ended up in the group on their out laps and ruined his lap. He was very upset and understandably with riders dawdling on the racing line again. There may be penalties to follow. Fenati is in 12th for tomorrow’s race start.
Niccolo Antonelli timed it all wrong and missed the chequered flag by about a minute and ends up in 15th. Filip Salac and Gabriel Rodrigo had an accident between turns 2 and 3 off-camera. Rodrigo starts 4th which isn’t such a bad position to be in, Salac will start in 16th position.
Leopard Racing’s Dennis Foggia stayed out of trouble to get a brilliant 2nd on the grid with Sergio Garcia sharing the front row with him and Andrea Migno. His teammate Xavier Artigas starts in 7th after qualifying 9th in another strong display.
Petronas Sprinta Moto3 rider Darryn Binder had another solid qualifying in 6th but starts in 5th because of the penalties in front of him. He was followed by John McPhee who starts from pitlane tomorrow, but it was a strong qualifying from the Scot in 7th.
The Red Bull KTM Ajo boys had a very gloomy session. The hero from last time out, Pedro Acosta sits in 10th behind his teammate Jaume Masia in 9th, but as we know from previous experience, both riders are very effective at carving through the field.
We have a grid tomorrow, whether it looks like this when we get to race start tomorrow is yet to be seen but there has to be penalties for irresponsible riding. When will they learn? Whatever happens, we are in for a good race tomorrow morning. The race for tomorrow will take place at 11.20 (GMT+1).
Featured Image: MotoGP.com.