Britain’s Danny Kent returned to the top of the Moto3 timesheets in Qatar this afternoon, setting the fastest lap of the weekend so far with his final effort but had to fend off a charge from team-mate Hiroki Ono.
The Leopard Honda man set a 2’06.413 with his last lap but as pushed hard by Ono, who was only 0.086 in arrears while Portugese sensation Miguel Oliveira took third with a 2’06.510.
“We can be really happy how today’s final free practice session went. Once more we’ve made a change to the bike and thanks to this we made a big step forward. Again we were on top of the field, the bike is working very really as well the whole team delivers an outstanding job at any time. So I feel very comfortable although we’re not on the limit at the moment,” said Kent.
“So there is a bit more to do. But we’ve been very consistent all by myself. Also everybody knows about the slipstream in Moto3, where you can make half of a second, especially here in Qatar. Nevertheless, at the moment we can still go faster than we show.”
Scotland’s John McPhee, who is still getting used to the 2015 Honda which has been manufactured to an almost Alex Marquez spec in terms of chassis geometry, pulled himself into fourth place with his last effort of a 2’06.533.
Marc VDS’s new wunderkind Fabio Quartararo finished in fifth place with Alexis Masbou in sixth.
