Moto3: Martin makes it three in a row
Jorge Martin claimed his third consecutive pole with a late record lap around Le Mans to lead the grid for the Moto3 French Grand Prix.
The Del Conca Gresini rider had a quiet session until the final minute where he dipped his Honda under the lap record with a stunning 1m42.039s.
It is Martin’s third consecutive pole at a track where he also sat at the front of the grid last season, however the last rider to win from pole in France in the lightweight class was Maverick Vinales back in 2013.
Jakub Kornfeil also fired in a late fast lap on his KTM to shoot up to second for Redox PruestelGP ahead of his 150th grand prix start.
The final spot on the front row went to Enea Bastianini, despite producing with the 50th crash of the weekend early in the session. The Leopard rider came out of his high-side unscathed and his mechanics made quick work of fixing up his Honda to get him back on track with enough time to claim third.
Fourth went to Marcos Ramirez, who had previously set the lap record Martin broke in FP3 with his Bester Capital Dubai team, after Aron Canet who held the position at the end of the session had his time removed for exceeding track limits.
Albert Arenas was another faller in a crash-filled session, but he too returned to claim fifth with the Angel Nieto Team.
Championship leader Marco Bezzecchi (Redox PruestelGP) takes the final spot on row two having also spent some time in the gravel at the midway point.
Niccolo Antonelli claimed seventh for SIC58 Squadra Corse and Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini) eighth. Aron Canet ended up ninth after losing that fastest lap, but the Spaniard is due to start from the back of the grid regardless after receiving a penalty post-Jerez.
The final spot inside the top ten went to Andrea Migno on the second Angel Nieto Team entry.
Jerez winner Philipp Oettl (Sudmetal Schedl GP Racing) starts from twelfth position.
Proving that the timing of a crash can be crucial, John McPhee was one of the last to take a tumble and returning to the track with just a minute left he aborted the lap, leaving him 26th in qualifying. The British rider still has a six-place penalty yet to be applied for causing a crash in Jerez, which will push him to the back of the grid, with only Canet behind him.
RBA’s Kazuki Masaki was the best of the rookie riders claiming 17th ahead of the race.
McPhee’s CIP team-mate Makar Yurchenko also fell as did Jaume Masia, who was the first to take a trip into the gravel, with Gabriel Rodrigo and Adam Norrodin also having offs in a busy session for crashes, with Rodrigo attending the medical centre for checks.
