Moto3: Fenati snatches pole from Foggia at Q2 death

This weekend the Moto3 World Championship is in Misano, at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, for the 14th round of the 2021 season. Andrea Migno was the fastest rider in combined free practice times, while Deniz Oncu was ruled out of qualifying after a crash in FP3 on Saturday morning, but the Turkish rider could yet be declared fit for the race. Alberto Surra was also ruled out after a crash for him in FP3 at the flat-out Curvone, and the Italian is to be reviewed on Sunday morning. Finally, Gabriel rodrigo was ruled unfit before qualifying after suffering a broken left humerus.

With the three injuries, there was already an entire row of the prospective Moto3 grid that would not be taking part in qualifying. And they were joined by Tatsuki Suzuki in not setting a time on Saturday afternoon as the Japanese rider crashed out on his first flying lap of Q1 at turn 13, ruling him out of Q2 contention. 

Just before Suzuki crashed, John McPhee also went down. He was atop the times when he fell at turn 10, Tramonto, but by the end of the session he had been bumped down to fifth and out of the all-important Q2 places. Filling them, instead, were Carlos Tatay, VR46 wildcard Matteo Bertelle, Riccardo Rossi and Ryusei Yamanaka. 

In Q2, it seemed that Leopard Racing would have the perfect session. First, Dennis Foggia set the fastest time on his first run, and then the team announced the signing of Tatsuki Suzuki and and retention of Foggia for the 2022 Moto3 season. However, Foggia’s final run was mis-timed, and he missed the chance to set a final lap. 

That left the door open for Romano Fenati to take pole position, and he did so with the target of Stefano Nepa in front of him with almost the final lap of the session. Only Sergio Garcia was behind Fenati on track but the Spaniard could not improve his own time, so Fenati’s home race pole position was confirmed. 

In fact, the Italian fans in the stands had much to celebrate, with Fenati being backed up by three compatriots: Foggia, Niccolo Antonelli and Andrea Migno who were second, third and fourth, respectively, in Moto3 qualifying. It is shaping up to be a good day for the home crowd on Sunday, even if the forecast looks somewhat sub-optimal. 

Joining Migno on the second row tomorrow will be Jaume Masia and Xavi Artigas, fresh off the announcement that he will be riding somewhere other than Leopard Racing in 2022. The rumour is that Artigas will move to PruestelGP to replace Filip Salac, who was announced to be joining Gresini’s Moto2 team for next season, alongside Gresini’s MotoE title contender Alessandro Zaccone. 

Riccardo Rossi will head up tomorrow’s third row, ahead of Elia Bartolini, who makes his second wildcard appearance for Bardahl VR46 this weekend, and Pedro Acosta, who might be starting to get slightly twitchy about the consistency with which second-placed Foggia is finding speed. 

Carlos Tatay rounded out the qualifying top 10, and will line up on row four tomorrow alongside Stefano Nepa and Sergio Garcia; while Ayumu Sasaki will start from 13th, ahead of Darryn Binder and Matteo Bertelle, who will start 15th in his first ever Grand Prix. 

Ryusei Yamanaka, Izan Guevara and Kaito Toba will start 16th, 17th and 18th, respectively, having been the slowest three in Q2.

Having been knocked out in Q1, John McPhee qualified down in 19th, and will start alongside Andi Izdihar and Adrian Fernandez on the seventh row tomorrow; while Maximilian Kofler will head up row eight from Lorenzo Fellon and Yuki Kunii. Jeremy Alcoba qualified 22nd, ahead of Filip Salac, who was the slowest rider in Q1 having had his final lap cancelled for track limits. Several riders, including Salac and Kunii, bailed out of their last lap because of yellow flags caused by Matteo Bertelle at turns two and three. Considering that Bertelle moved through to Q2, it is easy to see the perspective of someone who would call an injustice in this situation.

Assuming they all make the grid tomorrow, Deniz Oncu will be the first of the non-qualifiers on the grid in 24th, while Tatsuki Suzuki will head up row nine in 25th, alongside Gabriel Rodrigo and Alberto Surra in 26th and 27th, respectively.