Del Conca Gresini’s Jorge Martin claims pole in Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto while teammate Fabio DiGianntonio secures a ‘smashing’ third.
Del Conca Gresini Honda’s riders added to the heat at the Cicuito De Jerez – Angelo Nieto with some blistering lap times to takes two of the three front row spots. Americas winner Martin claimed yet another pole position with a 1.46.193 lap after he narrowly avoided what could have been a nasty crash at turn 2-3 at the beginning of qualifying. Philipp Oettl’s outstanding performance saw him put his Sadmetal Schedl GP Racing KTM bike into second. DiGianntonio rounds out the front row in third after spending the majority of qualifying with a smashed screen due to Darryn Binder’s turn 4 crash which sent a shower of gravel onto the track.
Niccoló Antonelli starts from fourth position alongside Argentina winner Marco Bezzecchi in fifth and Angelo Nieto Team rider Andrea Migno in sixth. Alonso Lopez qualified in an impressive seventh ahead of the Leopard Racing’s Enea Bastianini and Lorenzo Dalla Porta in eighth and ninth respectively.
Tatsuki Suzuki lines up on the fourth row in 10th with his countryman Kaito Toba in 11th and VR46 academy rider Dennis Foggia in 12th. Rookie Maker Yurchenko qualified in an impressive 13th position, five places higher than his Americas position, making this his best Moto3 qualifying so far. Kazuki Masaki will start in 14th with Aron Canet in 15th. After delivering a 1.46.522 in free practice three this morning, Canet couldn’t find his pace and only managed a 1.47.037 to put him in a shocking 15th place.
Jakob Kornfeil qualifies in 16th with CIP Green Power’s John McPhee and Marco Ramirez for company. Asia Talent Cup’s wildcard Ai Ogura took a mighty 19th place. Gabriel Rodrigo managed 20th after a fast crash at turn 7 with only a minute left on the clock meant he was unable to improve, he has since been taken to the medical centre to be assessed. Tony Arbolino rounds out the seventh row in 21st.
Nicola Bulega’s poor start to the season continues as he qualifies in 22nd, Ayumu Sasaki takes 23rd and Albert Arenas 24th. Jaume Masia was unable to put together a decent lap and starts from 25th with the second wildcard of the weekend, Jeremy Alcoba, in 26th and Adam Norrodin will start in a disappointing 27th. Livio Loi will be hoping to reenact his amazing comeback at COTA this weekend as he, once again, starts from the back of the pack, this time in 28th with Nakarin Atiratphuvapat in 29th.
Unfortunately, Darryn Binder will not take part this weekend. The South African suffered a horrific high-speed crash at the start of qualifying at turn 4 when he clipped the back of Loi. The collision sent him into the gravel where he attempted to stand unaided but was unable to and had to be removed via stretcher. After an assessment, he was declared unfit due to a dislocated shoulder.
Full results here.
With the two championship rivals separated by 14 places, this weekend is set to be a fiery one. Will Canet be able to fight his way up the pack? Can Martin break the 13-year ‘pole but no win’ curse of Jerez? Or will dark horse Bezzecchi show us why he shouldn’t be ruled out in the championship fight? It’s all to play for this weekend.
