Runaway Moto3 series leader Danny Kent nicked a last-ditch front row at Aragon this afternoon but title rival Enea Bastianini took pole position with an outright lap record more than half a second quicker than the previous circuit best.
Kent, on the Leopard Honda, was languishing down in 10th place with three minutes left and had to abort a fast lap due to traffic. He then got back behind the bubble and caught an all-import tow down the long back straight to put in a 1’57.956 which left him 0.201s behind Bastianini and just 0.001s slower than second-placed Miguel Oliveira on the Red Bull KTM.
Mapfre Team Mahindra’s Jorge Martin (+0.657s) put in his best qualifying performance of the season to start from the front of the second row in fourth. Jorge Navarro (+0.689s) on the Estrella Galicia 0,0 Honda was fifth fastest after recovering from the crash that ended his participation in the San Marino GP weekend.
Ongetta-Rivacold’s Niccolo Antonelli finished in sixth (+0.710s), ahead of Alexis Masbou (SAXOPRINT RTG) and the man who had earlier topped FP3, Efren Vazquez (Leopard Racing).
Phillip Oettl (Schedl GP Racing) and Romano Fenati (Sky Racing Team VR46) completed the top ten. Fenati won last year’s race at Aragon from 13th on the grid.
Scotsman John McPhee (SAXOPRINT RTG) will start from 14th on the grid. Sena Yamada is filling in for the injured Fabio Quartararo and qualified in 23rd. Quartararo, while not riding, took the chance to announce that he will make the switch to the Leopard Racing team in 2016.
Andrea Locatelli (Gresini Racing Team Moto3) took no part in Saturday’s action and will miss the rest of the weekend due to the pain from the sacrum fracture he suffered at Misano.
