Moto3: Masia takes Le Mans pole, Ogura 16th

Qualifying for round 10 of the 2020 Moto3 World Championship, the French Grand Prix, took place in Le Mans at the world famous Bugatti Circuit. Raul Fernandez came into this session as the fastest rider in the free practice sessions, his advantage less than half a tenth of a second over Celestino Vietti in FP3 on Saturday morning. 

In Q1, there was a split of tactics. Dennis Foggia decided to go the whole session with one run and one set of tyres, while the rest did the usual strategy of two runs, leaving the second as late as possible. It worked out well for Foggia, who topped the session for a large portion, although he was just beaten at the end by Kaito Toba. The two were joined in advancing to Q2 by Ryusei Yamanaka and Gabriel Rodrigo, despite a crash for the Argentinian rider at the end of the session. 

In Q2, it was Jaume Masia who took pole position, denying Albert Arenas a maiden world championship pole position. The two were able to lap significantly faster than most of the rest of the field and the pole position battle was always between them in the closing stages of the session, with the #5 coming out on top against his compatriot. John McPhee also displayed some good speed in Q2, and the 2019 French Grand Prix winner – who currently lies 24 points down in the championship – will start from third for tomorrow’s race. 

Raul Fernandez topped much of the session, but the #25 was pipped by the aforementioned trio late on, and set the fourth-fastest time. That lap was cancelled, however, meaning the Spaniard will start from ninth. For Segio Garcia, this meant a promotion to fourth on the grid, meaning he will head the second row from Gabriel Rodrigo and Tony Arbolino; whilst Ayumu Sasaki will head up row three from Romano Fenati and the aforementioned Fernandez. 

Celestino Vietti was 10th fastest in Q2, meaning the Italian will start alongside his teammate of 2019, Dennis Foggia, and Darryn Binder on the fourth row.

Andrea Migno heads up row five after a nasty incident between the Italian and Ryusei Yamanaka, where the Japanese rider lost the rear and spun out directly in front of the #16 KTM of Migno, who had nowhere to go. Fortunately both riders looked to be okay after the crash. Joining Migno on the fifth row will be Stefano Nepa and Carlos Tatay. 

Row six is an all-Japanese affair, with the new championship leader, Ai Ogura, starting from 16th, ahead of Kaito Toba and the aforementioned Ryusei Yamanaka after all three had their respective Q2 sessions hampered by crashes. 

Niccolo Antonelli was the major victim of the late lap by Kaito Toba in Q1, the Italian being the fastest rider to miss out on the second qualifying session. The #23’s second run was hampered by a crash at the Dunlop chicane, but things are not getting better for Antonelli as simultaneously it seems his options to stay in the World Championship in 2021 are becoming limited. He will be joined by his SIC58 Squadra Corse teammate, Tatsuki Suzuki, and Filip Salac on the seventh row of tomorrow’s grid. 

Behind, Davide Pizzoli heads up row eight, ahead of Alonso Lopez and Yuki Kunii; while Jeremy Alcoba will start from 25th, the Spaniard being joined by Riccardo Rossi and Deniz Oncu on row nine. Meanwhile, the 10th row is fronted by Khairul Idham Pawi, who will start alongside Jason Dupasquier and Maximilian Kofler; while Barry Baltus will be alone on the 11th and final row of the grid, as he starts last following the announcement he will be joining the NTS RW Racing team in Moto2 for 2021.