Moto3: Home hero Kornfeil tops chaotic qualifying

Jakub Kornfeil (Redox PrustelGP) claimed a first Czech pole in any class since Misano 2007 and was the first Czech rider to take pole in Brno at the Monster Energy Grand Prix České republiky after timing his lap to perfection to delight the home crowd, as John McPhee (CIP – Green Power) set the second quickest time of the session with the two leading the one-lap charge at the end of qualifying.

In a Moto3™ session where a whole host of riders missed the chance to set a hot lap time at the end, Kornfeil and McPhee took full advantage as they soared to P1 and P2, the Scot 0.419 behind. Marcos Ramirez (Bester Capital Dubai) secured third place on the grid after a stellar final lap, with Friday’s quickest man Philipp Oettl (Südmetall Schedl GP Racing) spearheading the second row of the grid in fourth after also timing it just right to get quick lap in as the clocked ticked down.

Fabio Di Giannantonio (Del Conca Gresini Moto3) was P1 with two minutes of the session to go, but the Italian left pit lane too late and took the checkered flag before he could set a final lap – meaning ‘Diggia’ had to settle for fifth. Aron Canet (Estrella Galicia 0,0) had the same problem and will start from sixth after looking set for a front row start, with Gabriel Rodrigo (RBA BOE Skull Rider) suffering the same fate – it’s seventh for FP3’s quickest man.

Nakarin Atiratphuvapat (Honda Team Asia) did manage to set a time right at the end and propelled himself into eighth place – his best qualifying result of the season. Two more riders who failed to get their timing right were Nicolo Antonelli (SIC58 Squadra Corse) and Enea Bastianini (Leopard Racing), and the two Italians round out the top ten in ninth and tenth respectively.

With Championship leader Jorge Martin (Del Conca Gresini Moto3) sidelined with a left radius fracture, Marco Bezzecchi (Redox PrustelGP) has a chance to take the lead in Championship again this weekend. However, the Italian was another rider to miss out on the chance to improve on his eighth position before the final run and dropped to P14. Can he mount a podium challenge from there?