Track records continued to fall in Misano as the Moto3 championship returned for the final free practice session ahead of the MotoGP Misano #2.
Romano Fenati looked to have claimed the bragging rights on his Sterilgarda Max Racing Husqvarna with a new lap record before Sky Racing VR46’s Celestino Vietti stole his thunder, shaving a further half a second off the times with a stunning 1’41.661 with six minutes to go.
Another impressive showing from Ai Ogura left the Honda Asia rider slotting in between the two Italians to take second in the dying minutes.
Despite Tony Arbolino, Dennis Foggia, Jaume Masia, Davide Pizzoli and Ryusei Yamanaka all being suspended from the final 15 minutes of Saturday morning, the usual mid-session lull in proceedings saw the majority of the field sat in the garages waiting for the pack to pounce once again as the clock ticked down.
The late strategy had obvious casualties as yellow flags, brought out due to a crash by Ricardo Rossi, impeded on Arbolino’s flying effort, failing to improve his time before the countdown hit 15’00.
The Italian did set a time fast enough to sit him in ninth but questions over its validity were raised as his lap completed after the cutoff time, eventually being cancelled by the stewards. Yamanaka suffering a similar fate, the duo were left languishing in 22nd and 21st respectively.
Masia’s stellar effort from Friday was enough to secure him automatic qualification to this afternoon’s Q2, sitting fourth in the combined times at the flag, with Raul Fernandez and Albert Arenas for company in the top-six. Foggia, Jeremy Alcoba, Andrea Migno and Tatsuki Suzuki rounding out the top-10.
A disappointed Gabriel Rodrigo concluded the session in 20th having brought his weekend’s crash tally to three after finding the gravel at turn three after just ten minutes on track before losing out again at turn 15 with 12 minutes to go.
A disappointed John McPhee also just missed out on early promotion to this afternoon’s final qualifying session. Initially improving on his Friday best with a 1’42.041 lap, the British rider entered the combined top-14 with 18 minutes to go but was sitting precariously in 12th by the penultimate minute.
A final flurry of activity with improving times from Ayuma Sasaki and Stefano Napa saw the Scot demoted out of the safe zone as the flag came out, missing out of Q2 in 15th.
