Moto3: Maiden Pole Position for Ogura, Arenas Only Row Five

The first of two qualifying sessions in Misano for the Moto3 World Championship took place for the San Marino Grand Prix. John McPhee entered qualifying as the fastest rider, having been 0.002 seconds faster than Celestino Vietti in combined practice. 

In Q1, Tony Arbolino topped the session with his final lap, just edging out Romano Fenati. Alonso Lopez made sure it would be two Husqvarnas in Q2 for the first time in 2020 by being third-fastest in Q1, whilst Riccardo Rossi took the fourth and final transfer spot to make a second consecutive Q2 appearance.

Q2 saw a last-minute lap from Ai Ogura that put him on pole position for the first time in his career. The #79 currently lies 25 points behind in the championship standings, but he has given himself a great opportunity to close that gap tomorrow as he searches for his fifth career podium and perhaps his first win in the World Championship. 

Gabriel Rodrigo held pole position until Ogura’s surprise final sector which saw the Japanese recover a deficit of more than one tenth of a second compared to the #2 Gresini Honda rider. The Argentinian misses out on back-to-back pole positions, but is in a good position to fight for his first podium of the year. 

Tatsuki Suzuki was unable to repeat his pole position performance of 2019 in Misano, but the Japanese rider starts from the front row nonetheless, in third place this time. The #24 will be targeting a second win of 2020 tomorrow, as he seeks to re-establish himself in the championship battle. 

Heading up the second row is the first of the home riders, Andrea Migno. The Italian’s race came to an early end in Misano last year, when he made contact with Ogura on the final lap. Both will of course be hoping that there is no repeat of that tomorrow, and Migno will be hoping he can find the podium for the first time in 2020. Joining the #16 on the second row will be Romano Fenati, who took his best qualifying result of the season with fifth place, and Raul Fernandez whose only legal lap in the session was enough for sixth place. 

Styrian Grand Prix winner, Celestino Vietti, will have to go from seventh place tomorrow as he looks to take consecutive victories, whilst Jeremy Alcoba will shoot for his first podium from eighth. The #52 rider will be in an Italian sandwich on the grid tomorrow, with Vietti to his left and Tony Arbolino to his right, as the runner-up last time out qualified ninth. 

The top 10 in qualifying was rounded out by Filip Salac who will be joined on the fourth row by Sergio Garcia and Riccardo Rossi; whilst championship leader Albert Arenas will have work to do tomorrow from 13th place after a disappointing qualifying for the #75. Arenas will be joined on the fifth row by the Leopard Racing duo of Jaume Masia and Dennis Foggia. 

Stefano Nepa qualified 16th and will start from the head of the sixth row, whilst a crash for John McPhee in Q2 limited his chances and the #17 will start from 17th place, whilst Alonso Lopez could do no better than 18th on his first Q2 appearance of 2020. 

Darryn Binder was the fastest rider to miss out on Q2 and the South African will start from 19th on the grid tomorrow, although poor qualifying performances do not often hinder his chances in the race. Joining Binder on the seventh row will be Niccolo Antonelli and Ayumu Sasaki who qualified 20th and 21st, respectively. Behind them, on row eight, Carlos Tatay will start alongside Davide Pizzoli and Khairul Idham Pawi; whilst Kaito Toba will start from the head of row nine in 25th, to be joined by Jason Dupasquier and Ryusei Yamanaka who completes that ninth row.

Deniz Oncu was 14th-fastest in Q1, meaning he will start from 28th and the front of the 10th row tomorrow. The Turk will be joined by Barry Baltus and Yuki Kunii on row 10, whilst Maximilian Kofler will start 31st and last.