Husqvarna’s Danny Kent pushed his way to a Moto3 front-row start in today’s qualifying session, setting the sixth-fastest time with Scotland’s John McPhee one place further back after sitting in third until the final minutes.

Kent set a 2’05.864 with his last lap and is a little under a second slower than pole sitter Alex Rins, who was the only man to go under the 2’06 barrier with a 2’05.973. Honda team-mate Alex Marquez was second with KTM’s Jack Miller in third.

Jakub Kornfeil and Isaac Vinales, both on KTMs, were just ahead of Kent and McPhee, who ended his session with a 2’07.113. His previous best qualifying position was 15th last year,

“It feels good, we have been strong all wekend and we are really getting to grips with the bike. We have needed this step to get into the top ten and I am delighted with seventh. We need to have a strong race,” said McPhee.

“I was hoping for more because the more you get, the more you want but there is definitely more to come.”