Salac storms to maiden Sachsenring pole in Moto3™

The Liqui Moly Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland saw a dramatic couple of qualifying sessions for the Moto3™ World Championship field at the Sachsenring. After a whole host of dramas and incidents, it was Filip Salac (Rivacold Snipers Team) who snatched pole position with a stunning time of 1’26.913, fending off Dennis Foggia (Leopard Racing) and Tatsuki Suzuki (SIC58 Squadra Corse).

DRAMA FROM THE START

Coming through from Q1, where he topped the session, Darryn Binder (Petronas Sprinta Racing) had late drama when he crashed at the end of the opening session after a collision with Joel Kelso (CIP Green Power) on the exit of Turn 1. This left his team plenty of work to do in order to fix the bike for Q2. Also graduating through were Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Tech 3), Jaume Masia (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and Yuki Kunii (Honda Team Asia). The drama didn’t stop there for Binder however, as he was given a black flag for irresponsible riding in the collision in Q1, and thus will start 18th.

Q2 - SURPRISE CITY

As the first laps came in for Q2, it was Filip Salac who led the way and was the only rider to get into the 1’26 bracket, whilst Dennis Foggia and Kaito Toba (CIP Green Power) were joining him on the provisional front row. There was also early drama for Deniz Öncü, who, after graduating into Q2, crashed in the early stages of the session. Luckily, he joined the track in the five minutes and the Turkish rider could get a lap banked. 

As all of the riders got out in the final few moments, but there was a big crash for Kaito Toba (CIP Green Power) at Turn 8, which saw the yellow flags come out. In the end, Salac remained on top for his first ever pole and the Czech Republic’s first pole since 2018 at Brno, then achieved by Jakub Kornfeil. Foggia remained in second whilst in third, it was a late lap from Tatsuki Suzuki to see the Japanese star complete the front row. Britain’s John McPhee (Petronas Sprinta Racing) took fourth place, ahead of Toba, whilst it was Lorenzo Fellon (SIC58 Squadra Corse) who took his best ever qualifying place in sixth. 

Niccolo Antonelli (Avintia Esponsorama Moto3) was a solid seventh as he pushed on at the end of the session, ahead of Romano Fenati (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team), who set his eighth-place time on his third lap, earlier in the session. Stefano Nepa (BOE Owlride) continued to be impressive and took ninth overall, whilst it was Andrea Migno (Rivacold Snipers Team) who completed the top ten, meaning there are Rivacold Snipers Hondas at the top and bottom end of the top ten. 

MORE QUALIFYING WOES FOR ACOSTA

Other worthy notes include Championship leader Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) only able to take 13th, setting his fastest time on his last flying lap. Jaume Masia was only able to get to 17th, whilst Binder will start 18th following his penalty. Of those who couldn’t break into Q2, Gabriel Rodrigo (Indonesian Racing Gresini Moto3) and teammate Jeremy Alcoba will start 19th and 20th.

Moto3™ Warm-Up starts at 08:40am local time with the race firing up at 11:00am!

Top 10 after Moto3™ qualifying: 

1. Filip Salac (Rivacold Snipers Team) – 1’26.913
2. Dennis Foggia (Leopard Racing) + 0.183
3. Tatsuki Suzuki (SIC58 Squadra Corse) + 0.214
4. John McPhee (Petronas Sprinta Racing) + 0.315
5. Kaito Toba (CIP Green Power) + 0.437
6. Lorenzo Fellon (SIC58 Squadra Corse) + 0.479
7. Niccolo Antonelli (Avintia Esponsorama) + 0.485
8. Romano Fenati (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team) + 0.562
9. Stefano Nepa (BOE Owlride) + 0.609
10. Andrea Migno (Rivacold Snipers Team) + 0.716