An outstanding Moto2 qualifying performance at Misano this afternoon saw Petronas Sprinta’s Jake Dixon rewarded with a career-best qualification, starting seventh on the grid for Sunday’s 25-lap race.

A closely fought FP3 saw Dixon put in an impressive display to stay within the top five for the majority of the 40-minute practice before securing the morning’s ninth fastest time, a 1’36.133, to guarantee his place in Q2.

His good form continued throughout the day’s final qualifying as the Englishman maintained his pace and position within the top half of the field for the duration of the 15-minute session. His best lap of 1’35.814 will see him line up for tomorrow’s race at the head of the third row.

“It’s good to be seventh in qualifying, super good actually. Of course, the race tomorrow is where it matters.

“I felt really good from the off, we put the hard tyre on at the end and I’m actually happier about my hard tyre pace than I was the soft! I was able to put in some really consistent laps during qualifying using the hard tyre.

“We have had a lack of sessions this weekend, because of missing the first one yesterday. It is only my third time here and I’ve lapped under the old lap record, which makes me really happy. Hopefully tomorrow will be another really good day.”