Aron Canet stole pole in the post-flag melee as the Moto3 pack qualified for the final time of the 2016 season at Valencia.
The Estrella Galicia 0,0 Honda rider saved his best until the dying seconds as he knocked champion Brad Binder down to second place with a hot lap of 1’39.261, while Hiroki Ono sneaked his way into third.
The sun may have been shining but it was deceptively cool on track, with the Tarmac having not soaked up much heat over the course of the morning.
The first casualty of the day was John McPhee’s stand-in, Vicente Perez who tipped off at turn three just seven minutes in, and this was followed by a candidate for save of the year, as Juanfran Guevara somehow managed to keep his RBA Racing Team KTM upright by skating along on his feet holding it up for a good 100m.
Andrea Migno also crashed a few moments, later, the SKY Racing Team VR46 rider left looking winded at the side of the track for a few moments before heading back to the pits.
Enea Bastianini set the pace early on as he swept to the top of the timings with a 1’39.597 straight out of the box, but he was soon deposed by Joan Mir 10 minutes later and then Philipp Oettl who chipped another couple of hundredths of a second off to go top.
Oettl’s time carried the field through to the closing six minutes, where, as expected, it all kicked off as everyone headed out of the pits together, setting the scene for a dramatic end to the session.
The Schedl GP Racing rider again got himself a nice clear track while everyone else was jostling for position behind Red Bull KTM Ajo rider Bo Bendsneyder who led the pack on track.
Jules Danilo crashed his Ongetta-Rivacold Honda at turn five with two minutes to go, and managed to walk away relatively unhurt despite being clobbered by the bike as it landed. Seconds later Leopard Racing’s Andrea Locatelli also crashed out at turn four.
As Bastianini crossed the line with the second fastest lap, it looked almost as if Oettl had done enough until Binder took the top spot seconds before the flag fell, with Nicolo Bulega’s SKY Racing Team VR46 machine close behind in second.
But Canet was still out on a quick one, and somehow managed to scrape the tiniest little bit of time off Binder’s lap to seal the deal. Ono crossed the line with the third fastest lap moments later.
Bulega will head the second row for tomorrow’s race ahead of Guevara and Antonelli who managed to set the sixth fastest lap.
Oettl, in the end, had to make do with seventh ahead of Bendsneyder in eighth while Bastianini was left with a disappointing ninth. Mir, despite his early pace, could only manage 10th.
