Moto3 Phillip Island: Maiden pole for Ramirez in Australia
Marcos Ramirez finds himself on pole for the first time in his career after mastering the incredibly tricky weather conditions at Phillip Island ahead of the Moto3 Australian Grand Prix.
The Leopard rider powered his Honda through the wind and rain on the slippery track and still stayed on top as the tarmac began to dry with the arrival of the sun to climb to pole position as the session drew to a close.
Aron Canet (Sterilgarda Max Racing KTM ) remains the main man for preventing Lorenzo Dalla Porta winning the title this weekend, he made sure he finished ahead of the Italian by following him on track and then gaining a crucial slipstream over the line to take second, Dalla Porta (Leopard) starts sixth.
The front row is completed by last years Moto3 race winner at the Island, Albert Arenas (Gaviota Angel Nieto Team).
John McPhee (Petronas Sprinta Racing) was just short of a front row start in a close session. He is joined on row two by Kaito Toba, who put in his best lap on his last run for Honda Team Asia.
Andrea Migno (Mugen Race) flirted with the top of the timesheets on his way to seventh, as did fellow countryman Romano Fenati, who will sit in eighth for VNE Snipers.
Celestino Vietti was the best of the rookies in ninth for Sky Racing Team VR46. His team-mate Dennis Foggia did enough to secure a top ten start.
Tony Arbolino had impressed in purely wet conditions, topping both FP1 and FP3 but found the changeable conditions more challenging. He starts 13th after experiencing a bike failure late in the session.
Tom Booth-Amos (CIP Green Power) made it through to Q2 for the first time but was noticably underpowered on the straights, despite this he still managed 14th - his best qualifying performance to date.
Stefano Nepa (Reale Avintia Arizona 77) had the 17th best time but will drop down the grid come race day after recieving a 12 place penalty for irresponsible riding.
There were Q2 falls for Jaume Masia, Can Oncu and Niccolo Antonelli, all walked away from their accidents but Antonelli is due further checks on Sunday before being allowed to race.
Jakub Kornfeil was the best of the riders not to progress to Q2, he was fifth (19th on the grid) but has a nine place grid penalty to serve for causing the crash with Gabriel Rodrigo early in the Japanese Grand Prix.
Australian Yanni Shaw (Double Six Motor Sport, Kalex KTM) brought the red flag out in Q1 after causing a spillage on track which saw Raul Fernandez, Ai Ogura, Tony Arbolino, Sergio Garcia, Oncu, Makar Yurchenko, Kornfeil, Masia and Kazuki Masaki all fly into the gravel.
He will start last after failing to set a time on the restart, ahead of Darryn Binder and Alonso Lopez both of whom crashed on their return to track.
Fellow wildcard and team-mate, New Zealander Rogan Chandler, had a much less eventful qualifying and will line up, 28th after finishing 14th in Q1.
