Aragon Moto3: Early lap sees Binder control qualifying for pole
Darryn Binder got in an early fast lap which held firm at the top of the timesheets to give the South African his second pole of the season in qualifying for the Moto3 Aragon Grand Prix, round thirteen of the championship.
The Petronas Sprinta rider put in the best time of the weekend so far on just his second lap in the session, his 1m 57.724s remained unchallenged at the chequered flag, giving Binder his first front row start since Qatar in style.
The number 40 was able to sit confidently in the pits for much of the session, only returning in the closing minutes to complete a practice start.
Gabriel Rodrigo left it to his final lap to move up to second on the timing screens, the Indonesian Gresini rider’s plan had been to shadow Binder, doing so in the opening minutes, but he found good track position in the closing stages to finish just 0.181s shy of the pole time.
Tatsuki Suzuki was the fastest of the riders to come through Q1, topping a messy session which saw many riders having their laps cancelled or spending too long looking for a tow. He kept the pace up in Q2, and had done enough to claim a front row start before a late tumble at turn seven from his SIC 58 Squadra Corse bike.
Behind the all Honda front row, title contender Sergio Garcia’s last run was good enough to move him up from 14th to fourth for Gaviota GasGas Aspar.
Andrea Migno looked back to his early season form as he moved up to fifth for Rivacold Snipers.
Dennis Oncu showed he was capable of a good lap around the Motorland track when he topped FP2 on his way to securing sixth on the grid as the top KTM for Red Bull Tech 3.
Jeremy Alcoba placed the second Gresini entry in seventh, ahead of Niccolo Antonelli who placed eighth for Avintia VR46 Academy.
Championship leader Pedro Acosta spent much of the session circulating with Ajo team-mate Jaume Masia. Both would give a slipstream then cut back and overtake, so being on a different schedule had little benefit.
Rookie Acosta qualified ninth. Masia, winner of both races at the Motorland track last season, finished down in 15th.
The top ten was completed by Lorenzo Fellon on the second SIC58 bike as he continues to show improvements at a more familiar track.
After featuring at the top of the timesheets in both FP2 and FP3 Izan Guevara was expected to continue his form, the unusual session threw up another surprise when he could only manage 13th on the grid for Aspar.
Dennis Foggia arrived for qualifying with the best time of the weekend to that point under his belt after topping FP3, but was also unable to matvh his previous efforts. The italian lines up 14th for Leopard.
Romano Fenati was on pole at the last round at Silverstone but his solo running style is not suited to Aragon. Short of a tow, he will start down in 17th for Sterilgarda Max Racing Team on the Husqvarna.
Kaito Toba crashed at the end of Q1, leaving his mechanics work to do between the sessions. The Japanese rider was under the impression he needed to protect his progression place. In reality most riders had missed their opportunity for a last fast lap, looking for a rider to follow.
He got out in time to participate in Q2 but suffered an almost identical crash at the same corner, leaving him 18th.
John McPhee has been handed a chance to try out Moto2, Syarifuddin Azman replaces him at Petronas, he starts 21st after his first world championship qualifying session.
