Brad Binder will start in pole position for tomorrow’s Moto3 race, the first pole of his career. Though he hadn’t set the fastest time in any of the practice sessions, his pace was always strong, and he was the man the rest of the field had their eyes on in a fraught qualifying session.
Romano Fenati qualifies in second, 0.324 behind the South African, with Jorge Navarro in third. Although he qualified in fourth, an impressive Khairul Idha Pawi incurs a three place grid drop for circulating too slowly in Friday’s practice sessions.
Rookies Nicolo Bulega and Joan Mir continue to impress with their fifth and sixth qualifying positions. Enea Bastianini who had looked strong on Friday could manage no better than seventh.
Qatar victor Niccolo Antonelli qualifies in eighth. Fabio Quartararo qualifies in ninth, a disappointment for Leopard Racing after Danny Kent won the championship for the team in 2015. Livio Loi rounds out the top 10.
John McPhee continues to struggle with his Peugeot and qualifies in 28th.
Moto3 qualifying is never without controversy. With penalties being applied for riding too slowly around a lap, Moto3 riders seem to be adopting a new tactic. Nobody would move for their final run in the last 10 minutes of the session until Brad Binder looked ready to head out onto the track.
The South African, already nearly half a second quicker than the rest, sat coolly in his pit box. When they realised he wasn’t moving, they instead followed Niccolo Antonelli out of the pits. The result was most of the field heading onto the track together with around seven minutes to go.
When Juanfran Guevara made a move for track position and wiped out, the field was so tightly packed together that he took several other riders with him, including third place finisher in Qatar, Francesco Bagnaia.
The Moto3 race starts Sunday at 1700 BST.
