Britain’s Danny Kent will start tomorrow’s Moto3 race at the Sepang MotoGP round after a frustrating qualifying session saw him dive down pitlane in order to avoid other riders getting a tow.
Ongetta-Rivacold’s Nico Antonelli left it late to set a 2’12.653 to claim pole at the Sepang International Circuit in an incredibly tight session that saw less than a second separate the top 14 riders.
The 19-year-old Italian kept a cool head in a session that once again saw a number of riders riding slowly on the racing line. It is Antonelli’s first pole since Brno and he finished 0.047s ahead of Estrella Galicia 0,0’s Jorge Navarro in second.
Navarro had been down in eighth after FP3 on combined times, but improved by over seven-tenths in the hotter conditions (track temperature 43˚C) during qualifying to claim his fifth front row start of 2015. Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Miguel Oliveira (0.240s) completed the front row, as the Portuguese rider aims to prevent Kent winning the title at Sepang. It was Oliveira’s 7th front row start of the year.
Leopard Racing’s Efren Vazquez will start from the head of the second row after improving by four-tenths from practice to secure his fourth second row start of the year.
Drive M7 SIC’s Jakub Kornfeil was in fifth at his team’s home grand prix in his best qualifying performance since his fourth at Le Mans. The Czech rider benefiting from the fact his team gets to test a lot at the circuit in the offseason.
Kent himself seemed frustrated at riders trying to get a tow from him during the session, and even went through pit-lane to try and shake the line of riders behind him in the last few minutes.
Eventually he managed lose most of them and got to set one flying lap that was good enough for sixth, but the Brit was 0.341s off the pace of Antonelli.
Romano Fenati (SKY Racing Team VR46), Francesco Bagnaia (Gresini Racing Team Moto3), Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing Team Moto3) and local hero Zulfahmi Khairuddin (Drive M7 SIC) completed the top ten.
Scotsman John McPhee recovered from a huge crash in FP3 to qualify in 12th but the painkillers he took made him sick twice during the session. Lorenzo Dalla Porta and Gabriel Rodrigo were caught up in an incident at turn 15 that saw both men crash out, while Ana Carrasco will be forced to start from the back of the grid in 31st after a big crash at turn 5 halfway through the session.
Alessandro Tonucci was declared unfit after a crash in FP2, while Andrea Locatelli withdrew from the weekend after FP1 due to pain from his injured coccyx.
