Moto3: Salac takes career-first pole position at the Sachsenring

Filip Salac (Rivacold Snipers Team) bagged the first pole position of his grand prix career at the Sachsenring with a 1:26.913. He will be accompanied on the front row by Dennis Foggia (Leopard Racing) and Tatsuki Suzuki (SIC 58 Squadra Corse).

Championship leader Pedro Acosta’s (Red Bull KTM Ajo) qualifying woes continued in P13 while his teammate Jaume Masia had to contend with P17. Darryn Binder (Petronas Sprinta Racing) will have to start the race from P18 due to a black flag for irresponsible riding in Q1.

Gabriel Rodrigo (Indonesia Racing Gresini Moto3) was forced into Q1 due to a crash in practice and failed to advance to Q2. Jeremy Alcoba (Indonesia Racing Gresini Moto3) also did not set a fast enough time in the first session and will start the race just behind his teammate from P20.

Q1

Rodrigo, Binder and Masia were unexpected actors in Q1. The latter two riders set the pace early on, posting 1:27 laps with just under 10 minutes remaining. Rodrigo lined up in a provisional third, almost half a second behind his opponents.

The session calmed down with everyone pulling back into the pits and Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) was first back on circuit, all on his own, with three minutes to go. A minute later, the rest of the field followed, meaning each of the riders would only get one flying lap in.

Binder looked content with his early lap time and showed no signs of leaving the garage for another time attack. The South African eventually took to the track again with one and a half minutes remaining, but his outing ended swiftly when he made contact with Joel Kelso (CIP Green Power) at T1 and went down into the gravel.

Öncü improved his lap time and moved up into second, securing him a spot in Q2. Yuki Kuuni (Honda Team Asia) improved his time to fourth and thereby knocked Rodrigo out. The Argentinian had looked on course for a good enough lap but fluffed it and will start the race from P19.

Binder’s 1:27.481 accordingly stood as the top time in Q1, although his team were forced to a quick repair job to get their rider out for Q2. Öncü, Masia and Kuuni advanced alongside him.

Q2

Q2 began in dramatic fashion as first, Öncü lost the front of his KTM before Binder was black flagged for irresponsible riding in his coming together with Kelso, meaning he would start the race from P18.

Flying laps came flocking in and Romano Fenati (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team) set a first marker with a 1:27.5. His time, however, didn’t stay at the top for long – Salac was the first rider of the weekend who broke into the 1:26s and moved into provisional pole, two tenths ahead of Foggia, as the field headed back into the pits.

Öncü’s bike was back going and the Turk returned to the track with enough time for three laps, yet again doing all the work on his own. The session fired back into life and most riders went out for a final time attack with less than three minutes to go, leaving it all to one flying lap. While the group repeated the undesirable Moto3 tactic of cruising on their out-lap, John McPhee (Petronas Sprinta Racing) posted his fastest lap so far and placed himself provisionally on the front row.

Kaito Toba (CIP Green Power) went down in the dying moments of Q2, bringing out yellow flags and disrupting fast laps across the field. Suzuki put a quick lap together and moved into third, but improvements were few and far between behind him. McPhee looked likely to move back on the front row but lost time through the final sectors and remained P4.

Salac’s 1:26.9 stood as the fastest lap of the day and earned the Czech rider pole position for Sunday’s race. Foggia’s time too remained P2 with Suzuki completing the front row. Behind McPhee on row two, Toba lined up from Lorenzo Fellon (SIC58 Squadra Corse) in P6.