Scotland’s John McPhee claimed his maiden Moto3 pole position at the Phillip Island MotoGP round after championship leader Danny Kent was hit with a six-place grid penalty for riding slowly on the racing line in the third free practice session. Kent finished on top of the timesheets with a 1’36.180, but was punished for an infringement in Saturday morning’s session and will have to start from seventh.
But Kent’s only title rival Enea Bastinanini is way down in 29th place as he continues to struggle with setup meaning the British rider is even closer to the world title.
McPhee set a 1’36.540 in glorious conditions and will start from pole for the first time in his career after Kent’s penalty. Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Miguel Oliveira was in second as the Portuguese rider claimed his sixth front row start of 2015.
Kent’s Leopard Racing teammate Efren Vazquez will start from third in what is his first front row start of the season. Estrella Galicia’s Jorge Navarro qualified in fourth ahead of the pole man from Motegi, Sky Racing Team VR46’s Romano Fenati.
RW Racing GP’s Livio Loi (+0.762s) will complete the second row in sixth, with Kent in seventh. Jakub Kornfeil (Drive M7 SIC), Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and Isaac Viñales (RAB Racing Team) completed the top ten.
Fabio Quartararo (Estrella Galicia 0,0) will start from 22nd on the grid on his return from injury, after receiving a three-place penalty from Race Direction for riding slowly on the racing line in FP1.
There was a nasty crash for Remy Gardner (29th), Niccolo Antonelli (17th) and Francesco Bagnaia (30th) at turn six with ten minutes gone in the session, while Kent’s main title rival Enea Bastianini will start from 29th after struggling throughout the weekend.
Leopard Racing’s Joan Mir impressed on his debut as a substitute for the injured Hiroki Ono and will start the race from 18th after also receiving a three-place grid penalty from Race Direction.
