Sasaki broke the 2014 lap record by taking the Moto3 pole in Australia

Left to Right Sergio Garcia, Ayumu Sasaki and Ivan Ortola – Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit | © Russell Colvin

Ayumu Sasaki took pole position in Saturday’s Moto3 class at the Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit in Australia. The Japanese broke the lap record set since 2014 and Sergio Garcia and Ivan Ortola could start from pole on Sunday morning.

On Saturday at 12:35 PM local time, 03:35 AM Dutch time, qualifying for the Moto3 class began at the Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit. It was dry and sunny in the Australian circuit and with significantly less wind than on Friday, conditions were relatively favourable.

Q1
Drivers classified outside the top fourteen after three free practice sessions were allowed to continue in Q2 with the four fastest drivers in this first fifteen minute qualifying session.

John McPhee waited a long time but eventually set the fastest lap time with a 1’37.041 ahead of David Muñoz, Carlos Tate and Taio Furusato, which allowed them to advance to Q2. Scott Acton finished fifth and will start 19th on Sunday, with Ryuichi Yamanaka, Riccardo Rossi, Lorenzo Fallon, Andrea Migno and Javi Artigas rounding out the top ten.

Andrea Migno had a crash in the session, with the Italian losing the front of his Honda at Turn 10 (MG Corner).

Q2
Eighteen fastest Moto3 riders battled for pole position at the Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit. Ayumu Sasaki, who was also fastest in FP2 and FP3, started the session very strongly, immediately posting a 1’35.854. It was the fastest Moto3 lap ever at the Australian circuit, beating Alex Marquez’s eight-year lap record in 2014. The Japanese were almost a second faster than the competition.

Halfway through the session, Tatsuki Suzuki suffered a heavy crash at Turn 8 (Hashed), his Honda badly damaged and it marked the end of the session for the Japanese.

Sasaki’s 1’35.854 was not improved and the Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max driver took pole position and set a new lap record. Sergio Garcia finished second, with Ivan Ortola third, his first row on the front row.

Carlos Tadai set the fourth lap time ahead of Diogo Moreira and Stefano Nepa, followed by world championship leader Izan Guevara, Denis Anku, Jam Masia and Taio Furusato in the top ten.

The Moto3 riders will return to the Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit for a warm-up session on Sunday morning at 09:00 local time, 00:00 Dutch time. The 23-lap race will start at 02:00 am Dutch time.




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