Moto3: Lightning pace earns McPhee pole

Round two of the season saw the first qualifying session after the Qatar washout, with John McPhee claiming pole position with a stunning lap ahead of the Moto3 Argentina Grand Prix.

The British Talent Team rider was undaunted by the changeable weather, with the other classes
seeing rain during final practice, but not enough for any significant disruption.

The man from Oban he used his second run to find over a second on his previous best on the Honda, posting a lap of 1m 49.094s before the rain returned, slowing progress for many of his rivals.

Fastest heading into qualifying after having his cancelled practice lap reinstated, Nicolo Bulega was down in eleventh as the clocked ticked towards zero, but a do-or-die dash in the wet saw the elated Sky Racing Team VR46 KTM rider move into second, 0.154s shy of McPhee's best.

Jorge Martin, who was handed pole in Qatar on practice results, was again fast when it counted and completes the front row for Del Conca Gresini, placing a second Honda in the top three.

Aron Canet held firm in fourth for Estrella Galicia 0,0, with a time just better than Gresini's second charge Fabio Di Giannantonio who starts fifth. They are joined on the second row by Romano Fenati, who led the competitive session briefly for Marinelli Rivacold Snipers before settling for sixth, staying in the pits as the rain arrived.

Juanfran Guevara improved to seventh for RBA, at the expense of Andrea Migno (Sky Racing Team VR46) who dropped to eighth.

SIC58 Squadra Corse rider Tatsuki Suzuki put in a career best qualifying performance for ninth, while Philipp Oettl's early pace was enough to complete the top ten for Schedl GP Racing.

Home rider Gabriel Rodrigo did everything possible to be ready for the weekend after breaking his collarbone in Qatar, and though featuring higher in practice, as the pace improved he could still find enough pace to claim a twelfth on the despite his injuries for RBA.

The best rookie showing in QP came from Kaito Toba for Honda Team Asia in 18th.

An early crash sent Albert Arenas hurtling around his Aspar, the Mahindra man was sent for concussion checks before returning for the final ten minutes, his bike ready he finished a cautious 19th.