World champion Joan Mir smashed the Moto3 lap record at Sepang for a first pole position of 2017, denying Jorge Martin at the death by almost four tenths of a second.
Gresini rider Martin had found himself in prime position in the early stages of qualifying to utilise a slipstream, and the Spaniard used it to perfection to post a 2m12.457s to go almost a second clear of the field.
Mir put in a decent effort of 2m13.361s on his Leopard Honda without a tow, but could only cut Martin’s advantage down to 0.904s. A 2m13.267s saw put Mir a tenth closer, but still posing no threat to the Gresini rider.
Having seemingly cemented his ninth pole position of the season so early in the session, Martin switched his focus to race set–up and put laps in on the harder rear Dunlop tyre.
Martin ventured out in the final minutes along with the rest of the field for one last attempt and was 0.007s up in the first sector. However, Mir had found time in the first two sectors and crucially had a tow to use down the back and pit straights.
The Leopard rider used the slipstream to perfection to post a 2m12.078s to deny Martin, who lost time at the final corner with a small mistake just as he applied the throttle, a ninth pole by 0.379s. British Talent Team’s John McPhee completed the front row for the first time since the Italian Grand Prix.
Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Bo Bendsneyder leaped up to fourth at the end of the 40–minute session ahead of Gabriel Rodrigo, who recovered from a small tumble at the first corner in the opening stages of qualifying.
Jules Danilo was lucky not to get tangled up in the Argentinian’s incident and carried on to put his Marinelli Rivacold Snipers Honda sixth. However, a three–place grid drop will shuffle him back to ninth for Sunday’s 18–lap race.
This will promote Phillip Island podium finish Livio Loi, as well as Danilo‘s team–mate Romano Fenati and Estrella Galicia 0,0 Honda’s Enea Bastianini, while Niccolo Antonelli will start from 10th.
Fabio Di Giannantonio was sat on a provisional front row start in third as the session reached its closing minutes, but found himself tumbling down the order to 11th at the chequered flag ahead of Aron Canet, Tatsuki Suzuki, Ayumu Sasaki and SIC team–mate Adam Norrodin.
Malaysian wildcard Kasma Daniel Kasmayudin will start his first grand prix from 29th. Honda Team Asia’s Nakarin Atiratphuvapat (27th) and Marcos Ramires (17th) were the only other fallers in the session, both riders able to rejoin the action.
