Moto3 Catalunya Qualifying: Gabriel Rodrigo storms to pole position

June 5, 2021 EMR Writer

Gabriel Rodrigo takes pole position in a chaotic Moto3 session.

Moto3 is chaotic as always with Gabriel Rodrigo seemingly full of confidence thanks to his unexpected podium at Mugello, the Argentine rider takes pole position in the lightweight class by a huge 0.317 seconds ahead of his teammate Jeremy Alcoba who he drafted around the track, Alcoba even felt he could’ve gone faster going for an overtake on his teammate before deciding against it.

Rodrigo held a provisional pole position in the last laps but knew he had to put in a solid lap to hold it with the rest of the grid pushing on, Rodrigo was able to take 2 tenths off the previous lap record set by Stefano Nepa in FP3 to take pole position, interestingly Nepa, Rodrigo and Suzuki all set times in FP3 which would’ve been worth a P2 start today in qualifying just showing the difference track temperatures and conditions can have.

The Gresini squad took a 1-2 in Catalunya once again putting Fausto’s name back to the top of the grid, the team also performing very well in Moto2 and MotoGP this year and at Catalunya. The duo were able to qualify ahead of Niccolo Antonelli who joined them on the front row, the KTM rider has had some tough luck recently but the title fight is still in full swing.

In a huge surprise it was Stefano Nepa who took the P4 spot, the rider has actually been predicted by us for a podium this weekend so hopefully, he will be able to put it on the box, Nepa is highly talented and will be more motivated than ever after watching teammate Riccardo Rossi take a podium in Le Mans, Nepa finished ahead of Izan Guevara in P5, the Junior World Champion knows this track very well and could be a shout for the podium.

Joining Nepa and Guevara on row two is John McPhee, McPhee was forced to come via Q1 and set an incredibly rapid banker lap on his first run which would be enough to get him into the Q2 session before setting his fastest Q2 time on his banker lap, he has been working with his team and crew chief to improve his qualifying and these banker laps seem to be the way forward.

Just behind McPhee on row three is his teammate Darryn Binder, Binder is another rider who is improving his qualifying after a disastrous record last year, joining him on row three is Tatsuki Suzuki and Jaume Masia as Riccardo Rossi caps off the top 10, solid result for the Italian rider.

It was a disaster for a few riders who got stuck in the Q1 session and were unable to escape, Le Mans winner Sergio Garcia will start from P19 with Andrea Migno down in P21, the biggest surprise is the title leader Pedro Acosta who will be forced to start from P25 after an impressive crash save in the penultimate corner.

Q2 Results –