Moto3: Martin tops opening day at Valencia

Jorge Martin has topped the opening day of action at the final race of the 2017 Moto3 season, coming out ahead of a pack of fellow Spaniards in front of home crowds at Valencia’s Circuit Ricardo Tormo.

He ended the day well clear of Aron Canet in second, 0.4 ahead of his fellow Honda rider. They’re joined on the provisional front row by Marcos Ramirez, first of the KTMs and setting his time in this morning’s cooler session at the track.

Juanfran Guevara tops the second row ahead of the Leopard Honda of new world champion Joan Mir, while Ayumu Sasaki broke the Spanish domination of the days’ time sheets in sixth.

Niccolo Bulega was seventh, but the Italian’s weekend could be in jeopardy after a fast fall late in free practice two. Following fellow Italian Niccolo Antonelli, the Red Bull KTM rider highsided out in front of Bulega, leaving him with nowhere to go and cartwheeling through the gravel trap before heading to the circuit medical centre with possible lower leg injuries.

It was a difficult day for John McPhee and the British Talent Team Honda in a distant 27^th, losing most of the afternoon’s session after a fast crash at turn twelve left him sitting in the box for much of the forty minutes.