Nicolo Bulega had a very good session, dominating for almost all of the time allowed, and with a superb time of 2'09.320 which earned him pole position, ahead of Niccolo Antonelli, Aron Canet, Marco Bezzecchi (CIP by Alain Bronec ), Enea Bastianini and Romano Fenati.
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#JapaneseGP Moto3™ |
2016 |
2017 |
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FP1 |
1'57.523 Nicolo Bulega |
2'09.577 Nicolo Bulega |
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FP2 |
1'56.982 Enea Bastianini |
2'10.628 Romano Fenati |
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FP3 |
1'56.651 Brad Binder |
2'09.935 Manuel Pagliani |
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Qualification |
1'56.443 Hiroki Ono |
2'09.320 Nicolo Bulega |
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Warm Up |
1'57.455 Hiroki Ono |
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Course |
Bastianini, Binder, Bulega (Ono disqualified, see here) |
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All time lap record |
1'56.443 Hiroki Ono 2016 |
Due to the rain, no favorite really managed to break away during free practice. Nicolo Bulega set the best time in the first free practice session in 2'09.577 on his Sky Racing Team VR46 KTM. Romano Fenati took over from him on Friday afternoon in 2'10.628 on his Honda from the Marinelli Rivacold Snipers team, then Manuel Pagliani dominated on Saturday morning with his Mahindra from Alain Bronec's CIP in 2'09.935.
For the qualifying session, the air temperature was 15°, the ground temperature was 17° and the track was still wet. World Championship leader Joan Mir would not start from the front row of the starting grid anyway, having been penalized with a drop of six places for zigzagging in the straight during the last lap of the Grand Prix of Aragon.
At the start of this qualifying session, it was not raining, but the track was wet and clouds were threatening above the circuit. Andrea Migno and Lorenzo Dalla Porta were condemned to only participate in half (the last 20 minutes) of this qualifying session due to irresponsible driving during qualifying for the Aragon Grand Prix. This was a harsher application of the regulations regarding behavior during the qualifying session, particularly for drivers who were driving too slowly. In this specific case, it was incidentally not a bad operation for Migno and Dalla Porta because the other drivers were drying the surface during the first 20 minutes.
Roll up, roll up…first qualifying session of the #JapaneseGP is underway! 🇯🇵 pic.twitter.com/y9lUc9jryf
- MotoGP @ 🏁 (@MotoGP) October 14, 2017
The first fast lap was to the credit of Albert Arenas in 2'12.102, which indicated a very wet track. There was very little wind, so it dried slowly despite the 29 drivers on track at the time. Tom Taparis, the only wild card rider of this GP in Moto3, fell without seriousness in turn 5.
Nicolo Bulega progressed in 2'11.727, 0.047 ahead of Albert Arenas and 0.191 ahead of Aron Canet. Joan Mir was in fourth place (not taking into account her decline of 6 positions). Albert Arenas took first place in 2'11.361, 0.3 ahead of Romano Fenati who himself preceded Nicolo Bulega by 0.01. Jules Danilo was then fourteenth at 1.3. Most riders rode without interruption – if not fitting a new set of tires – as rain threatened.
At half-distance, local Tatsuki Suzuki set the best time in 2'11.175, to the delight of the Japanese spectators who were soaked for the second day in a row. Andrea Migno and Lorenzo Dalla Porta were allowed to join the other drivers.
Romano Fenati took the lead in 2'11.058, soon overtaken by Aron Canet in 2'10.881. Around a quarter of an hour from the checkered flag, Nicolo Bulega moved into second position, 0.2 behind Canet, while Albert Arenas fell, fracturing his hand and had to withdraw. Bulega moved into first position with a time of 2'10.237, 0.4 ahead of Canet, 0.5 ahead of Antonelli and 0.6 ahead of Fenati.
It's business time! @aroncanet44 goes quickest as @AlbertArenas75 crashes out trying to follow his fellow Spaniard 😣#JapaneseGP pic.twitter.com/ElcoT3alFZ
- MotoGP @ 🏁 (@MotoGP) October 14, 2017
Nicolo Bulega accelerated again 7 minutes from the end in 2'09.933 while Darryn Binder fell without seriousness. The Italian improved again in 2'09.688. He was then more than half a second ahead of second Romano Fenati. Enea Bastianini closed to 0.1 behind him, followed by Romano Fenati.
Nicolo Bulega finally achieved a superb time of 2'09.320 which earned him pole position, ahead of Niccolo Antonelli, Aron Canet, Marco Bezzecchi (Alain Bronec's CIP), Enea Bastianini and Romano Fenati.
# Moto3 Qualifying 🏁
Bulega holds off a late charge from Antonelli and Canet to take pole for the #JapaneseGP pic.twitter.com/Eb7ohZCfZV
- MotoGP @ 🏁 (@MotoGP) October 14, 2017
Qualification ranking:
1. Nicholas Bulega ITA SKY Racing Team VR46 (KTM) 2m 9.320s
2. Niccolo Antonelli ITA Red Bull KTM Ajo (KTM) 2m 9.592s
3. Aron canet SPA Estrella Galicia 0,0 (Honda) 2m 9.708s
4. Marco Bezzecchi ITA CIP (Mahindra) 2m 9.797s
5. Enea Bastianini ITA Estrella Galicia 0,0 (Honda) 2m 9.846s
6. Roman Fenati ITA Marinelli Rivacold Snipers (Honda) 2m 9.881s
7. George Martin SPA Del Conca Gresini Moto3 (Honda) 2m 10.152s
8. gabriel rodrigo ARG RBA BOE Racing Team (KTM) 2m 10.227s
9. Manuel Pagliani ITA CIP (Mahindra) 2m 10.305s
10. Andrea Migno ITA SKY Racing Team VR46 (KTM) 2m 10.320s
11. Will Bendsneyder NED Red Bull KTM Ajo (KTM) 2m 10.383s
12. Nakarin Atiratphuvapat THA Honda Team Asia (Honda) 2m 10.385s
13. Adam Norrodin MAL SIC Racing Team (Honda) 2m 10.538s
14. Joan mir SPA Leopard Racing (Honda) 2m 10.580s
15. Tatsuki suzuki JPN SIC58 Squadra Corse (Honda) 2m 10.737s
16. Livio Law BEL Leopard Racing (Honda) 2m 10.877s
17. Fabio DiGiannantonio ITA Del Conca Gresini Moto3 (Honda) 2m 10.888s
18. John mcphee GBR British Talent Team (Honda) 2m 10.925s
19. Juanfran Guevara SPA RBA BOE Racing Team (KTM) 2m 10.968s
20. Jakub Kornfeil CZE Peugeot MC Saxoprint (Peugeot) 2m 11.012s
21. Philipp Oettl GER Südmetall Schedl GP Racing (KTM) 2m 11.097s
22. Marcos Ramirez SPA Platinum Bay Real Estate (KTM) 2m 11.125s
23. Jules Danilo FRA Marinelli Rivacold Snipers (Honda) 2m 11.262s
24. Ayumu Sasaki JPN SIC Racing Team (Honda) 2m 11.298s
25. Darryn binder RSA Platinum Bay Real Estate (KTM) 2m 11.349s
26. Albert Arenas SPA Aspar Mahindra Moto3 (Mahindra) 2m 11.361s
27. Lorenzo Dalla Porta ITA Aspar Mahindra Moto3 (Mahindra) 2m 11.400s
28. Kaito Toba JPN Honda Team Asia (Honda) 2m 11.999s
29. Patrick Pulkkinen END Peugeot MC Saxoprint (Peugeot) 2m 12.735s
30. Tony Arbolino ITA SIC58 Squadra Corse (Honda) 2m 12.925s
31. Tom Toparis AUS Cube Racing (KTM) 2m 16.493s
Reference times:
Test record: 1'56.443 by Hiroki Ono (Honda Team Asia) in 2016
Lap record: 1'57.112 by Alex Marquez (Honda Estrella Galicia 0,0) in 2014
Best top speed: 224,3 km/h for Efren Vasquez (Honda SaxoPrint-RTG) in 2014
Provisional ranking of the World Championship:
1 Joan MIR-Honda 271 points
2 Romano FENATI-Honda 191
3 Aron CANET-Honda 173
4 Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO-Honda 137
5 Jorge MARTIN-Honda 134
6 John MCPHEE-Honda 106
7 Marcos RAMIREZ-KTM 105
8 Andrea MIGNO-KTM 103
9 Enea BASTIANINI-Honda 103
10 Philipp OETTL-KTM 91
11 Juanfran GUEVARA-KTM 75
12 Nicolo BULEGA-KTM 72
13 Bo BENDSNEYDER-KTM 48
14 Livio LOI-Honda 47
15 Tatsuki SUZUKI-Honda 46
…18 Jules DANILO-Honda 29
Joan Mir will be World Champion this Sunday if…
Joan Mir wins or finishes 2nd
Joan Mir ranks 3rd and Romano Fenati does not win the race
Joan Mir ranks 4th or 5th and Romano Fenati does not do better than 3rd
Joan Mir ranks 6th, 7th or 8th and Romano Fenati is not on the podium
Joan Mir ranks 9th or 10th and Romano Fenati finishes in 5th position or beyond
Joan Mir ranks 11th and Romano Fenati finishes in 6th position or beyond
Joan Mir ranks 12th and Romano Fenati finishes in 7th position or beyond
Joan Mir ranks 13th and Romano Fenati finishes in 8th position or beyond
Joan Mir ranks 14th and Romano Fenati finishes in 9th position or beyond
Joan Mir ranks 15th, Romano Fenati finishes in 10th position or higher and Arón Canet does not win
Joan Mir does not enter the points, Romano Fenati finishes in 11th position or beyond and Arón Canet does not win
Photo © motogp.com / Dorna
