Austin Moto3: Rins Captures Pole at Circuit of Americas

2013 Austin Moto3 Qualifying Results from Circuit of the Americas

Estrella Galicia 0,0’s Alex Rins dominated Moto3 qualifying session for the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

Rins took the pole position for Sunday’s race, and will be joined on the front row by Red Bull KTM Ajo’s championship leader Luis Salom and Team Calvo’s Maverick Viñales.

Having already topped the final practice session earlier in the day, Rins proceeded to register a blistering lap of 2:16.396 and firmly placed his Estrella Galicia 0,0 bike at the front of the grid.

Salom proved to be the closest challenger, but was still almost half a second adrift while third-placed Viñales was the only other rider within a second of pole. Highly unusual as it may be for Moto3, but there were huge time margins between riders across the 5.5 kilometers of Circuit of the Americas.

Caretta Technology – RTG’s Jack Miller will start fourth, heading the second row from Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3’s Jonas Folger, who put in a committed lap to improve from 15th to fifth place on his final tour.

The Estrella Galicia 0,0 team completed the top six with Alex Marquez, who escaped from a scare at Turn 1, having been demoted by Folger in the last knockings.

Row 3 will consist of Avant Tecno’s Niklas Ajo, Ambrogio Racing’s Danny Webb and Ognetta-Rivacold’s Alexis Masbou, while Arthur Sissis rounds out the top ten for Red Bull KTM Ajo.

The 40-minute session was not short of drama, not least for La Fonte Tascaracing’s Hyuga Watanabe who experienced two falls; the second was by far the scariest, as the Japanese rider and Kiefer Racing’s Toni Finsterbusch touched in the braking zone for Turn 12.

The touch resulted in Watanabe’s front brake being pulled on fully, sending him flying over the front of his Honda. Following a check-up at the Brackenridge University Hospital in Austin, he was confirmed to have suffered a fracture of the T4 in his spine.

As the checkered flag flew, an incident took place between Sissis and Mahindra Racing’s Efren Vazquez; the duo shook hands before walking away. Sissis suffered some pain in his right wrist, but was cleared of any injury with an x-ray.

2013 Austin Moto3 Qualifying Results from Austin of the Americas: