British Moto3: Fenati flies solo for Silverstone pole
Romano Fenati started from where he left off as he claimed back to back poles after topping qualifying at Silverstone for the Moto3 British Grand Prix.
Following on from his pole last round in Austria, the Sterilgarda Max Racing Team rider broke the lap record for Moto3 at Silverstone in FP2, then lowered it further in FP3.
After dominating practice, his rivals were well aware of his pace and the Italian found it increasingly difficult to find his own space on track, a tactic which has served him well this season.
With heavy attention from the Petronas Team and Lorenzo Fellon, The Husqvarna rider had not set a time with the clock ticking down. A further run into the pits saw him lose the attention of everyone except the Frenchman.
A late crash for Ayumu Sasaki saw him have his best effort cancelled, with Fellon unable to keep up and also taking a tumble.
That left Fenati free to go it alone and post a 2m 11.325s lap, not quite up with his record breaking practice pace, but good enough for pole.
The number 55 will look to capitalise in the title hunt. The top two riders in the championship - Pedro Acosta and Sergio Garcia - both failed to find a way out of Q1.
Gabriel Rodrigo will join Fenati on the front row. After moving up from Q1 with the top time, it was his lap that was leading the way until Fenati posted his flier. The Agrentine was good enough to keep second for Gresini and Honda with his best run just 0.043s slower.
Third on the grid went to Riccardo Rossi, who ran with Dennis Foggia and Niccolo Antonelli on track. It is the BOE Owlride racers second front row start after he claimed second in Le Mans. The Italian is also the highest placed KTM rider.
Andrea Migno used the final minute of the session to climb from seventh to fourth for Rivacold Snipers.
He is joined on row two by Antonelli, who set the fifth best time for Avintia VR46 Academy and Filip Salac for CarXpert PruestelGP in sixth, another Q1 graduate.
Jeremy Alcoba was following his Indonesian Racing Gresini team-mate Rodrigo to try to improve. He starts seventh.
Eighth on the grid went to Leopard’s Foggia, just ahead of Red Bull KTM Tech 3’s Deniz Oncu in ninth.
Jaume Masia’s best effort completed the top ten on the timesheets for Red Bull KTM Ajo.
Izan Guevara was the best of the rookie participants in eleventh for Valresa GasGas Aspar.
The Fenati follow tactic did not pay off for the Petronas Sprinta Racing team, they had only their last lap to set a time, which left John McPhee in 15th and Darryn Binder in 16th.
Leader in the title hunt, Acosta spent Q1 shadowing Filip Salac in the hope of a tow. The Czech rider moved on but eighth in the session was the best the Ajo rider could achieve. He starts 22nd.
Sergio Garcia continued his crash-peppered weekend with another tumble. There was no time to return to the pits and with no time set Acosta made his own minor alterations to return to take tenth in Q1 - 24th on the grid.
Xavi Artigas returned to action following his spell of absence after posting a positive Covid test, he starts 29th for Leopard.
Andi Farid Izdihar is not at the British Grand Prix, following issues with getting a visa to the UK.
