The inaugural Moto3 class saw most of the riders ride in small and pesky squadrons waiting to hitch profitable tows from some of the faster riders at the Losail circuit in Qatar. In tonight’s Moto3 qualifying session, Sandro Cortese put his KTM M32 on the pole position (the fourth of his career) in his last flying lap and pipping Spain’s darling Maverick Vinales for the top spot on the grid by a mere 0.016, while Louis Rossi (no relation to the famous Valentino) who last year finished in 17th in the defunct 125cc class seems to have come into his own this season on the bigger machines grabbed the third spot.
Luis Salom finished in fourth following an altercation with Hector Faubel. Niklas Ajo who held last year’s record of number of crashes in 125cc qualified in 5th, followed by the very impressive and mature rookie Romano Fenati on the FTR Honda. Air Asia’s Zulfahmi Khairuddin took a very good 7th with Miguel Oliveira in 8th with Arthur Sissis and Alex Masbou closing out the top ten. KTM Racing can be proud because they have four riders out of five in the top ten, while Danny Kent on the last KTM qualified 12th.
Moto2 Qatar Qualifying results:
01. Sandro Cortese — Red Bull KTM Ajo — KTM M32 — 2’08.188
02. Maverick Vinales — Blusens Avintia — FTR Honda M312 — + 0.016
03. Louis Rossi — Racing Team Germany — FTR Honda M312 — + 0.115
04. Luis Salom — RW Racing GP — KALEX KTM — + 0.378
05. Niklas Ajo — TT Motion Events Racing — KTM M32 — + 0.546
06. Romano Fenati — Team Italia FMI — FTR Honda M312 — + 0.611
07. Zulfahmi Khairuddin — AirAsia SIC Ajo — KTM M32 — + 0.659
08. Miguel Oliveira — Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 — Suter Honda Moto3 — + 0.738
09. Arthur Sissis — Red Bull KTM Ajo — KTM M32 — + 0.813
10. Alexis Masbou — Caretta Technology — Honda NSF250R — + 0.919
11. Alessandro Tonucci — Team Italia FMI — FTR Honda M312 — + 0.931
12. Danny Kent — Red Bull KTM Ajo — KTM M32 — + 0.938
13. Alex Rins — Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 — Suter Honda Moto3 — + 0.951
14. Alberto Moncayo — BANKIA Aspar Team — KALEX KTM — + 1.182
15. Brad Binder — RW Racing GP — KALEX KTM — + 1.372
16. Hector Faubel — BANKIA Aspar Team — KALEX KTM — + 1.681
17. Jasper Iwema — MOTO FGR — MOTO FGR 3 Honda — + 1.688
18. Alan Techer — Technomag CIP TSR — Honda NSF250R — + 1.803
19. Jakub Kornfeil — Redox Ongetta Centro Seta — FTR Honda M312 — + 1.954
20. Niccolò Antonelli — San Carlo Gresini Moto3 — Honda NSF250R — + 1.962
21. Efren Vazquez — JHK T-Shirt LaGlisse — Honda NSF250R — + 2.389
22. Ivan Moreno — Andalucia JHK LaGlisse — FTR Honda M312 — + 2.572
23. Marcel Schrotter — Mahindra Racing — Mahindra MGP3O — + 2.867
24. Adrian Martin — JHK T-Shirt LaGlisse — Honda NSF250R — + 3.076
25. Danny Webb — Mahindra Racing — Mahindra MGP3O — + 3.129
26. Jack Miller — Caretta Technology — Honda NSF250R — + 3.273
27. Isaac Vinales — Ongetta Centro Seta — FTR Honda M312 — + 3.463
28. Kenta Fuji — Technomag CIP TSR — TSR 3 Honda — + 4.657
29. Simone Grotzkyj Giorgi — Ambrogio NEXT Racing — Oral M3 — + 4.772
30. Luigi Morciano — Ioda Team Italia — Ioda TR002 — + 4.836
31. Toni Finsterbusch — Cresto Guide MZ Racing — MZ Honda Moto3 — + 5.066
32. Jonas Folger — Iodaracing Project — Ioda TR002 — + 5.507
