Motegi Moto3 | KTM Ajo’s Danny Kent on Pole

2012 Motegi Moto3 Qualifying Results

In a typically exciting Moto3 qualifying session at the AirAsia Grand Prix of Japan in Motegi it was Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Danny Kent who charged to his maiden pole position ahead of Maverick Viñales and Sandro Cortese.

Kent looked in threatening form throughout the session, yet left it until the dying seconds to get his head down and take a dominant first-ever Grand Prix pole position with a time of 1.58’371, beating Blusens Avintia’s Maverick Viñales by over two tenths. The Spaniard also looked strong out on track, as he seemed to be benefiting from his recent engine upgrade. Kent’s championship leading teammate Cortese could not improve on his time in his final lap, yet maintained a front row start.

Heading the second row is AirAsia-SIC-Ajo’s Zulfahmi Khairuddin, who will be disappointed at missing out on the front row, after having shown top-three form in the preceding sessions. Team Italia FMI’s Alessandro Tonucci put in one of his best qualifying performances of the season in fifth, while RW Racing GP’s Luis Salom looked far from happy as he ended up in sixth.

Seventh spot on the grid went to Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3’s Jonas Folger, who twice had to stop with a mechanical fault, the first being attributed to a problem with the bike’s fuel tank breather hose. This grid position is particularly impressive, considering the lack of track time the German had throughout the session. Racing Team Germany’s Louis Rossi lines up next to him in eighth, while JHK t-shirt Laglisse’s Efrén Vázquez rounds out the third row.

Another rider who suffered bike problems was Team Italia FMI’s Romano Fenati, who had to wait in the pits a while for his clutch to be changed. And despite not looking entirely comfortable out on track, the young Italian managed to fight his way into tenth spot. There was only one crasher in the session in the form of TT Motion Events Racing’s Niklas Ajo, who walked away unhurt and was able to re-join the session.

2012 Motegi Moto3 Qualifying Results:

Pos.	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time	Gap 1st/Prev.
1.	52	Danny KENT	GBR	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM	211.5	1’58.371
2.	25	Maverick VIÑALES	SPA	Blusens Avintia	FTR Honda	211.9	1’58.574	0.203 / 0.203
3.	11	Sandro CORTESE	GER	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM	208.8	1’58.669	0.298 / 0.095
4.	63	Zulfahmi KHAIRUDDIN	MAL	AirAsia-Sic-Ajo	KTM	212.3	1’58.951	0.580 / 0.282
5.	19	Alessandro TONUCCI	ITA	Team Italia FMI	FTR Honda	211.4	1’59.072	0.701 / 0.121
6.	39	Luis SALOM	SPA	RW Racing GP	Kalex KTM	213.1	1’59.097	0.726 / 0.025
7.	94	Jonas FOLGER	GER	Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3	Kalex KTM	211.3	1’59.125	0.754 / 0.028
8.	96	Louis ROSSI	FRA	Racing Team Germany	FTR Honda	210.0	1’59.213	0.842 / 0.088
9.	7	Efren VAZQUEZ	SPA	JHK t-shirt Laglisse	FTR Honda	211.0	1’59.287	0.916 / 0.074
10.	5	Romano FENATI	ITA	Team Italia FMI	FTR Honda	209.6	1’59.359	0.988 / 0.072
11.	44	Miguel OLIVEIRA	POR	Estrella Galicia 0,0	Suter Honda	205.4	1’59.494	1.123 / 0.135
12.	27	Niccolò ANTONELLI	ITA	San Carlo Gresini Moto3	FTR Honda	211.5	1’59.652	1.281 / 0.158
13.	42	Alex RINS	SPA	Estrella Galicia 0,0	Suter Honda	209.4	1’59.653	1.282 / 0.001
14.	61	Arthur SISSIS	AUS	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM	214.1	1’59.686	1.315 / 0.033
15.	23	Alberto MONCAYO	SPA	Andalucia JHK t-shirt Laglisse	FTR Honda	208.7	1’59.904	1.533 / 0.218
16.	26	Adrian MARTIN	SPA	JHK t-shirt Laglisse	FTR Honda	208.3	1’59.945	1.574 / 0.041
17.	12	Alex MARQUEZ	SPA	Ambrogio Next Racing	Suter Honda	208.4	1’59.949	1.578 / 0.004
18.	41	Brad BINDER	RSA	RW Racing GP	Kalex KTM	210.4	1’59.974	1.603 / 0.025
19.	84	Jakub KORNFEIL	CZE	Redox-Ongetta-Centro Seta	FTR Honda	207.6	1’59.998	1.627 / 0.024
20.	89	Alan TECHER	FRA	Technomag-CIP-TSR	TSR Honda	209.1	2’00.021	1.650 / 0.023
21.	81	Hyuga WATANABE	JPN	Project U 7C Harc	Honda	210.8	2’00.044	1.673 / 0.023
22.	8	Jack MILLER	AUS	Caretta Technology	Honda	206.5	2’00.177	1.806 / 0.133
23.	31	Niklas AJO	FIN	TT Motion Events Racing	KTM	212.0	2’00.386	2.015 / 0.209
24.	9	Toni FINSTERBUSCH	GER	Racing Team Germany	Honda	210.4	2’00.460	2.089 / 0.074
25.	32	Isaac VIÑALES	SPA	Ongetta-Centro Seta	FTR Honda	207.8	2’00.526	2.155 / 0.066
26.	17	John McPHEE	GBR	Caretta Technology	KRP Honda	207.6	2’00.755	2.384 / 0.229
27.	82	Yuudai KAMEI	JPN	18 Garage Racing Team	Honda	207.2	2’00.940	2.569 / 0.185
28.	30	Giulian PEDONE	SWI	Ambrogio Next Racing	Suter Honda	204.3	2’00.987	2.616 / 0.047
29.	51	Kenta FUJII	JPN	Technomag-CIP-TSR	TSR Honda	211.1	2’01.233	2.862 / 0.246
30.	28	Josep RODRIGUEZ	SPA	Moto FGR	FGR Honda	206.3	2’01.256	2.885 / 0.023
31.	29	Luca AMATO	GER	Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3	Kalex KTM	209.0	2’01.500	3.129 / 0.244
32.	99	Danny WEBB	GBR	Mahindra Racing	Mahindra	205.1	2’02.362	3.991 / 0.862
33.	80	Armando PONTONE	ITA	IodaRacing Project	Ioda	198.1	2’03.819	5.448 / 1.457
34.	20	Riccardo MORETTI	ITA	Mahindra Racing	Mahindra	197.4	2’05.450	7.079 / 1.631