Italian 16-year-old Mattia Casadei snatched his first pole position from Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup leader Ayumu Sasaki in the last seconds of Misano qualifying. It had been Raúl Fernández, the 15-year-old Spaniard, who had looked strongest through most of the session but Sasaki, the 15-year-old Japanese rider, deposed him on the last lap only to then be nudged aside by Casadei.
Saturday’s single race at Misano is the first of the three remaining in the 2016 season and Sasaki has had the lead since the first weekend of the year in Jerez. He is 26 points ahead of Aleix Viu in the standings heading into Misano.
Aleix Viu heads the second row of the grid however, with compatriot Marc Garcia a notable absence as the Spaniard recovers from a broken finger.
The single contest at Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli gets underway on Saturday at 16:30 local time (GMT+2).