Moto3 Austin: Record lap sees Canet soar to pole
Aron Canet built on his flying early benchmark with a late record lap to secure pole position for Sunday's Moto3 Americas Grand Prix in Austin.
The Estrella Galicia rider dominated the cool conditions for the entire forty minute session with his blistering pace unmatched by the rest of the field.
His Honda got a slight slipstream on the straight on his way to recording the new circuit record lap of 2m 14.644 - 0.700s better than Danny Kent's old best and +0.987 ahead of the rest of the men on track. It is Canet's second pole position, having also started from the front of the grid in Valencia last season.
Championship leader Joan Mir was the best of the rest for the Leopard Racing team, he made good progress in the scrappy end to the session, as did Romano Fenati who secured third for Marinelli Rivacold Snipers, for an all Honda front row.
A late surge by Nicolo Bulega moved him up to row two for Sky Racing VR46, where he is joined by Jorge Martin, the Gresini man well placed to continue his podium finish form from fifth.
His team-mate Fabio DiGiannantonio held on the sixth as the fast laps started to be fired in, just faster than Enea Bastianini on the second Estrella Galicia entry, who will be hunting for his first points finish this season from seventh.
Niccolo Antonelli was marginally slower on the Red Bull KTM to be pushed into eighth, John McPhee found some much needed speed when it counted most, after spending much of the session way down in 21st , the Scottish rider pounced right at the end to steal ninth for the newly formed British Talent Team.
Bo Bendsneyder (Red Bull KTM) completes the top ten despite a fall. Tony Arbolino saw his hot lap slip down the standings bit remained the top rookie in twelfth, riding for SIC58 Squadra Corse.
An early spill saw both Kaito Toba and wild-card Gabriel Martinez-Abrego hit the deck, the Mexican fell again as the clock hit zero. Bendsneyder soon followed with his back end out of line, landing him onto the COTA paint stripes.
Tatsuki Suzuki also fell, just as the riders exited the pits for their final runs. Andrea Migno came off at turn nine at the start of the final five minutes, though the Spaniard remounted immediately. Nakarin Atiratphuvapat was less lucky and left on a stretcher, while Juanfran Guevara also had a late off.
