2019 Austria Moto3 Qualifying Result: Well That’s A Surprise *UPDATED*

By Zara Daniela | Sat, 10/08/2019 - 11:50

A light cloud cover enveloped the Red Bull Ring as the lightweight class was raring to go for the qualifying session and things didn’t really get spicy until the final flying lap to decide pole. After the usual mix of slipstreaming and slow riding, Romano Fenati came out of literally nowhere (and/or from Q1) to snatch his first pole position in almost two years by five hundredths of a second. The Italian capped an excellent day for his VNE Snipers squad, which scored the Tissot box after his teammate grabbed a new lap record around Spielberg.

Behind the emotional poleman, things were getting a bit tricky to compute. Ayumu Sasaki qualified an impressive second place but had already received a 12-place grid penalty for irresponsible riding in FP2, therefore leaving Jaume Masia to take his place on the grid. The Spaniard showed excellent speed throughout the weekend but a cancelled lap time at the wrong time sent him on a successful trip through Q1 before setting camp on the front row of the grid. John McPhee might not be at 100% after the scary race incident one week ago but the Scotsman lost no speed on his way to fourth and was further rewarded with a front row start following Sasaki’s penalty.

Rookie Ai Ogura would be next in line but the Japanese rider also has to serve a 12-place grid penalty, which brings Kaito Toba at the front of the second row. Tatsuki Suzuki seemed to suffer some technical niggles towards the end of the session and could not improve on his early session-topping time so he dropped back to the middle of the second row, helped by the penalties already mentioned. Tony Arbolino invariably looked like the fastest man in practice but will have to make do with starting the race sixth.

Lorenzo Dalla Porta will start his assault on the championship lead from the third row, ahead of Raul Fernandez and Celestino Vietti – the Italian’s session hindered by an early tumble at turn three. Following his penalty, Sasaki drops to the back of row four, behind Niccolo Antonelli and Marcos Ramirez. Aron Canet spent his Q2 session being particularly unhappy with his bike and when he did manage to post a time, it wasn’t any more impressive than row five. But if there was one man who was more unhappy than the championship leader, it was Darryn Binder, who will add a back of the grid start penalty to an already poor performance in qualifying.

UPDATE: The old "riding slowly in an irresponsible manner" penalty was out in force following the Moto3 qualifying session, with 16 riders getting either grid penalties or seeing their fastest times in Q2 cancelled, including poleman Fenati. As a result, John McPhee will be starting first, ahead of Fenati and Toba, with Arbolino, Vietti and Masia completing row two. Championship leader Aron Canet will start 13th, heading the fifth row of the grid. 

Results:

Pos. Num. Rider Bike Time Gap 1st Prev.
1 55 Romano FENATI Honda 1'36.460    
2 71 Ayumu SASAKI Honda 1'36.511 0.051 0.051
3 5 Jaume MASIA KTM 1'36.689 0.229 0.178
4 17 John MCPHEE Honda 1'36.690 0.230 0.001
5 79 Ai OGURA Honda 1'36.705 0.245 0.015
6 27 Kaito TOBA Honda 1'36.762 0.302 0.057
7 24 Tatsuki SUZUKI Honda 1'36.788 0.328 0.026
8 14 Tony ARBOLINO Honda 1'36.791 0.331 0.003
9 48 Lorenzo DALLA PORTA Honda 1'36.890 0.430 0.099
10 25 Raul FERNANDEZ KTM 1'36.973 0.513 0.083
11 13 Celestino VIETTI KTM 1'37.021 0.561 0.048
12 23 Niccolò ANTONELLI Honda 1'37.149 0.689 0.128
13 42 Marcos RAMIREZ Honda 1'37.189 0.729 0.040
14 44 Aron CANET KTM 1'37.274 0.814 0.085
15 16 Andrea MIGNO KTM 1'37.375 0.915 0.101
16 84 Jakub KORNFEIL KTM 1'37.483 1.023 0.108
17 76 Makar YURCHENKO KTM 1'37.514 1.054 0.031
18 21 Alonso LOPEZ Honda 1'37.721 1.261 0.207
    Q1 Results:        
Q2 5 Jaume MASIA KTM 1'37.028    
Q2 55 Romano FENATI Honda 1'37.051 0.023 0.023
Q2 16 Andrea MIGNO KTM 1'37.158 0.130 0.107
Q2 21 Alonso LOPEZ Honda 1'37.278 0.250 0.120
19 82 Stefano NEPA KTM 1'37.337 0.309 0.059
20 7 Dennis FOGGIA KTM 1'37.409 0.381 0.072
21 12 Filip SALAC KTM 1'37.421 0.393 0.012
22 75 Albert ARENAS KTM 1'37.695 0.667 0.274
23 22 Kazuki MASAKI KTM 1'37.711 0.683 0.016
24 52 Jeremy ALCOBA Honda 1'37.714 0.686 0.003
25 54 Riccardo ROSSI Honda 1'37.787 0.759 0.073
26 11 Sergio GARCIA Honda 1'37.804 0.776 0.017
27 73 Maximilian KOFLER KTM 1'37.824 0.796 0.020
28 61 Can ONCU KTM 1'37.876 0.848 0.052
29 53 Deniz ONCU KTM 1'38.022 0.994 0.146
30 40 Darryn BINDER KTM 1'38.083 1.055 0.061
31 69 Tom BOOTH-AMOS KTM 1'39.945 2.917 1.862
2019
11
Moto3
Spielberg, Austria
↑Back to top

Comments