Petronas Sprinta Racing were delighted with their qualifying efforts as both riders will start on the front row on Sunday. Darryn Binder took pole position after coming through Q1 in first place while teammate John McPhee took third place with his last lap of Q2.
Binder’s time of 2’04.075 is a new record for Moto3 at a race weekend and the South African will look to make the most of his second ever pole tomorrow. Brit McPhee was hampered by a Leopard Racing bike on his penultimate lap but still made third place, just 0.079 seconds ahead of fourth place.
Sixteen-year-old rookie Izan Guevara was the surprise of both Q1 and Q2. The Spaniard came through the first session in second place behind Binder and finished second again in Q2, closing the gap from 0.6 seconds to 0.2 seconds in the sessions. It was a fantastic start for the Aspar Gas Gas team on their Moto3 debut.
The second row will see Spaniards Jeremy Alcoba and Jaume Masia joined by Japan’s Kaito Toba. Row three will see Gabriel Rodrigo, Sergio Garcia and Riccardo Rossi.
Romano Fenati came through Q1 in third place only to miss setting a time in Q2 by leaving the pit lane too late to set a time. Tatsuki Suzuki had already made the same mistake in Q1 and will start last, behind new teammate Lorenzo Fellon.
1 – Darryn Binder – RSA – Petronas Sprinta Honda
2 – Izan Guevara – SPA – Aspar Gas Gas
3 – John McPhee – GBR – Petronas Sprinta Honda
4 – Jeremy Alcoba – SPA – Indonesian Racing Gresini Honda
5 – Jaume Masia – SPA – Red Bull Ajo KTM
6 – Kaito Toba – JAP – CIP Green Power KTM
7 – Gabriel Rodrigo – ARG – Indonesian Racing Gresini Honda
8 – Sergio Garcia – SPA – Aspar Gas Gas
9 – Riccardo Rossi – ITA – BOE Owlride KTM
10 – Nico Antonelli – ITA – Avintia Esponsorama KTM
11 – Pedro Acosta – SPA – Red Bull Ajo KTM
12 – Jason Dupasquier – SUI – CarXpert PruestelGP KTM