Pole specialist Jorge Martin fought through the pain to claim a record breaking fourteenth Moto3 pole position today at the Assen MotoGP round.
The Spaniard suffered a nasty crash during yesterday’s Moto3 FP2 and after only finishing this morning FP3 session eighth fastest. Despite the injury to his ankle and the subsequent pain, Martin waited until the closing stages to claim the top spot from Bastianini with Nico Bulega rounding out the front row.
Martin was the early leader before Bastiniani came to the top of the timing sheets with fifteen minutes to go. It stayed that way until the closing stages when, with just over a minute left, Martin went back to the top with a 1:42.039 which was 0.310 seconds ahead of Bastianini’s fastest time.
Bulega has looked rejuvenated this weekend and with the chequered flag out the Italian put his Sky Racing VR46 on the outside of the front row with a 1:42.445.
Aron Canet will head the second row starting from fourth position. The Spaniard suffered a small crash in the final stages of the session on his final flying lap. He picked the bike up but his lap was ruined.
Lorenzo Dalla Porta will start from the middle of the second row on his Leopard Honda with John McPhee’s late fast lap getting him up to sixth position just a thousandth of a second behind Dalla Porta’s time.
Fabio Di Giannantonio will start from seventh position alongside World Championship leader Marco Bezzecchi. Bezzecchi’s opportunity to post a final fast lap was ruined when he nearly rode into back of his team-mate, Jakub Kornfiel in the final chicane. The Italian had to back out and as a result lost his tow and all momentum. Marcos Ramirez will round out the third row.
Gabiriel Rodrigo rounded out the top ten whilst Kornfiel and Adam Norrodin rounded out the fourth row with the Malaysian just 1.028 seconds off of Martin’s time.
