Philipp Oettl grabbed Moto3 pole position at the Austin MotoGP round today after a banker lap set early in the session was enough to secure top spot as the heavens opened with 20 minutes to go.

With ten minutes remaining riders were back out again with slick tyres fitted. Several riders down the order would improve their time, but none inside the top ten saw their positions changed.

This saw Oettl secure the first pole position of his career. The German rider has frequently shown well in practice but has struggled to complete a single fast during qualifying.

His work ethic saw him complete more laps than any other rider in the early part of the session. A 2’18.398 may have been three seconds off the pole record, but he was still half a second faster than anyone else in the session.

Jorge Navarro (Estrella Galicia 0,0) will line up second on the grid, repeating his front row start from Argentina. The last two times Navarro has started from the front row he has gone on to finish on the podium, a foreboding sign for Sunday’s race.

With 29 points, Navarro is just seven points shy of the lead in the championship. As both of his rivals start outside the top ten, Austin could be a perfect chance for the Spaniard to grab the points lead.

For the first time in 2016, Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing Moto3) will start from the front row as the Italian took third in the session. It has so far been a disappointing start to the year as he has claimed just 11 points and has only once scored points.

Jakub Kornfeil (Drive M7 SIC Racing Team) and Romano Fenati (Sky Racing Team VR46) will head the second row of the grid. The entire top five took huge benefit from setting a banker lap during the first dry period of the session.

In just his third World Championship race, Adam Norrodin (Drive M7 SIC Racing Team) will start sixth. This comes just a week after the Malaysian produced a spirited ride in Argentina to challenge for the podium before falling at the final corner.

Andrea Locatelli (Leopard Racing), Jules Danilo (Ongetta-Rivacold), Fabio Quartararo (Leopard Racing) and Livio Loi (RW Racing GP BV) formed the top ten.

Times were more spread out than usual due to the unusual conditions of the session. Many of the bigs names and championship hopefuls in the lightweight class missed out on the top ten, unable to make the most of limited dry track time.

Championship leader Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) will start in 12th place. Scotland’s John McPhee ended his session in 17th place while Qatar GP winner Nicolo Antonelli (Ongetta-Rivacold) will launch from down in 30th place.

Karel Hanika (Platinum Bay Real Estate) crashed at Turn 14 with Stefano Valtulini (3570 Team Italia) suffering a third crash of the weekend at Turn 15.