Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing Moto3) has taken pole position in Moto3™ at MotorLand Aragon, as the Italian ended the session two tenths above championship rival Jorge Navarro (Estrella Galicia 0,0). MotorLand marks the first opportunity for Red Bull KTM Ajo rider Brad Binder to take the title as the South African is 106 points clear at the top of the table, but he had a more difficult session in Saturday afternoon to post the seventh quickest time. Bastianini and Navarro are the closest men to Binder in the standings, and with a 1-2 in qualifying start their final defense from a good footing.
Livio Loi (RW Racing GP BV) set the third fastest lap of the session but must take a 3-place grid penalty, with Gabriel Rodrigo (RBA Racing Team) putting in the fourth fastest effort of QP but similarly affected with a four place penalty. Aron Canet (Estrella Galicia 0,0) will be a big winner once penalties are applied to those on the front rows, as the home rookie qualified in fifth and will be set to move up the grid. Philipp Oettl (Schedl Racing GP) also looks set to benefit after setting the sixth fastest lap of Saturday's qualifying session.
Less than a tenth back from title hopeful Binder was FP3's fastest man Fabio Quartararo (Leopard Racing), as the Frenchman made good on promise shown in practice to get back towards the front in Aragon - having previously won at the venue in the FIM CEV Repsol. Honda Team Asia rider Hiroki Ono was ninth quickest in a solid top ten performance, with that top ten completed by Dutch rookie Bo Bendsneyder for Red Bull KTM Ajo.
Jorge Martin (Gaviota Mahindra Aspar) is back on track after missing the San Marino GP through injury and impressed at home to go eleventh quickest, with Austrian GP winner Joan Mir (Leopard Racing) suffering at MotorLand in P27 at the flag. Mallorcan Mir did the double at MotorLand in the FIM CEV Repsol in 2015, but has been suffering with a fever in his rookie Moto3™ world championship appearance at the track, not getting out on Friday.
For full timings from the session, click here.
The lower class get out on track to race on Sunday at 11:00 local time, with Binder balanced on the edge of glory.