Bastianini breaks pole record in dramatic Moto3™ qualifying

Italian starts from pole once again at Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli

The ‘Beast’ is back! Enea Bastianini (Estrella Galicia 0,0) will start the Gran Premio Tribul Mastercard di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini from pole position after a new lap record in qualifying – and a dramatic end to the session for some. An incident out the final corner on the final run saw Gabriel Rodrigo (RBA BOE Racing Team) lose control and his bike get collected by Livio Loi (Leopard Racing), creating a spectacular crash for the Belgian rider, but with both riders soon up and on their feet. Behind that drama, Jorge Martin (Del Conca Gresini Moto3) just missed out on pole and starts from the middle of the front row, with Championship leader Joan Mir (Leopard Racing) taking third.

Fabio Di Giannantonio (Del Conca Gresini Moto3) was the first man to break Brad Binder’s former pole record, and the Italian heads up the second row after the dust settles on a frantic session. Just behind him is Romano Fenati (Marinelli Rivacold Snipers), with Rodrigo set to line up in sixth despite that late drama.

Ayumu Sasaki (SIC Racing Team) was the rookie superstar of the session to take seventh and break a run of more difficult qualifying results, ahead of home hero Niccolo Antonelli (Red Bull KTM AJo), who has shown solid top ten form all weekend. Just behind Antonelli is teammate Bo Bendsneyder.

Nicolo Bulega (Sky Racing Team VR46) had a fast lap deleted for exceeding track limits and took tenth by the flag, ahead of Aron Canet (Estrella Galicia 0,0), who provided some earlier drama of his own. Canet highsided at Turn 15 part-way through the session, but was able to get back out on track and take P11. Mugello winner Andrea Migno (Sky Racing Team VR46) rounds out Row 4.

Kaito Toba (Honda Team Asia) was another to impress to take P13, with the Japanese rookie just beating Marco Bezzechi (CIP) by 0.013. Philipp Oettl (Südmetall Schedl GP Racing) completes the fastest fifteen.

The lightweight class get ready to race at 11:00 (GMT +2) at Misano on Sunday, with Bastianini looking to take his second win at the venue from pole. If he does that, he’ll be the first winner from P1 on the grid since Brad Binder took the win at Phillip Island last season.

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