Kent confident despite grid penalty

Danny Kent will start from seventh on the grid for tomorrow’s Moto3 race at Phillip Island and with his title rival, Enea Bastianini, 29th on the grid Kent stands on the verge of Britain’s first world title in 38 years.

Kent set the fastest time in qualifying but a six place grid penalty, for riding slowly in FP3, cost him dearly. Speaking about the incident Kent immediately dismissed that he had been cruising and instead said that he had simply been trying to create space on the track for a quick lap.

“I had a few problems during the session where there was a lot of riders on my tail and even in qualifying you could see it,” said Kent. “When I came out of pitlane and there was a lot of riders I’d sit up but so would they and I kept getting stuck in the middle of a pack. I was just trying to get some space rather than look for a tow.

“But we’ve got a fast bike this weekend and it’s working really well. We had some problems in Japan but the bike is working well here and with a long, fast corner leading onto the start finish straight it’s good for us and I’ve got good top speeds. With Bastianini down the grid it’s good for tomorrow because I only need to finish in front of him, or close to Oliviera.”

Having started down the field at Le Mans Kent was able to offer some insight into what a rider faces in those times but overall he said that he expected Bastianini to make it through to the front of the field.

“I think that here it’s a lot easier than at Le Mans because there’s a long straight and there’s a lot of passing places so I expect Bastianini to get back to the front of the field but he’s had a difficult weekend so we’ll have to wait and see.”