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Phillip Island Moto3: Sandro Cortese grabs pole before rain hits

Moto3 world champion Sandro Cortese wrapped up pole position for the Phillip Island round as rain hit the latter stages of qualifying

Cortese and Jonas Folger had just begun to battle for pole in earnest when drizzle curtailed their contest a quarter of an hour from the end.

Ajo rider Cortese had just set a provisional pole time of 1m38.334s, four tenths clear of his compatriot on the Aspar Kalex, when the rain arrived.

Although the whole field went back out, conditions were too greasy for any of the pole contenders to improve.

Long-time provisional polesitter Efren Vazquez held on for third for Laglisse, ahead of Cortese's team-mate Danny Kent.

Sepang podium finisher Zulfahmi Khairuddin was one of the few to find any time on the slippery track, as he thrust the third Ajo KTM up to fifth in the closing seconds.

In a very strong afternoon for the team, its fourth rider Arthur Sissis delivered a career-best performance on home turf to qualify seventh, behind Miguel Oliveira.

A week after his dramatic but ultimately fleeting split with his Avintia team, Maverick Vinales qualified eighth for his return to the series. That put him just ahead of Luis Salom, his rival for the championship runner-up spot.

Pos  Rider                Team/Bike                Time       Gap
 1.  Sandro Cortese       Ajo KTM                  1m38.334s
 2.  Jonas Folger         Aspar Kalex-KTM          1m38.727s  + 0.393s
 3.  Efren Vazquez        Laglisse FTR-Honda       1m39.179s  + 0.845s
 4.  Danny Kent           Ajo KTM                  1m39.222s  + 0.888s
 5.  Zulfahmi Khairuddin  Ajo KTM                  1m39.229s  + 0.895s
 6.  Miguel Oliveira      Monlau Suter-Honda       1m39.262s  + 0.928s
 7.  Arthur Sissis        Ajo KTM                  1m39.337s  + 1.003s
 8.  Maverick Vinales     Avintia FTR-Honda        1m39.387s  + 1.053s
 9.  Luis Salom           RW Kalex-KTM             1m39.430s  + 1.096s
10.  Alessandro Tonucci   Italia FMI FTR-Honda     1m39.451s  + 1.117s
11.  Alberto Moncayo      Laglisse FTR-Honda       1m39.514s  + 1.180s
12.  Louis Rossi          Germany FTR-Honda        1m39.536s  + 1.202s
13.  Jakub Kornfeil       Ongetta FTR-Honda        1m39.572s  + 1.238s
14.  Romano Fenati        Italia FMI FTR-Honda     1m39.595s  + 1.261s
15.  Niklas Ajo           TT Motion KTM            1m39.631s  + 1.297s
16.  Alex Rins            Monlau Suter-Honda       1m39.649s  + 1.315s
17.  Adrian Martin        Laglisse FTR-Honda       1m39.750s  + 1.416s
18.  Isaac Vinales        Ongetta FTR-Honda        1m40.167s  + 1.833s
19.  Alex Marquez         Ambrogio Suter-Honda     1m40.336s  + 2.002s
20.  Brad Binder          RW Kalex-KTM             1m40.372s  + 2.038s
21.  Armando Pontone      Ioda Italia IODA         1m40.854s  + 2.520s
22.  John McPhee          Caretta KRP-Honda        1m40.984s  + 2.650s
23.  Jack Miller          Caretta Honda            1m41.177s  + 2.843s
24.  Alan Techer          Technomag-CIP TSR-Honda  1m41.198s  + 2.864s
25.  Josep Rodriguez      FGR-Honda                1m41.555s  + 3.221s
26.  Giulian Pedone       Ambrogio Suter-Honda     1m42.027s  + 3.693s
27.  Kenta Fujii          Technomag-CIP TSR-Honda  1m42.475s  + 4.141s
28.  Luca Amato           Aspar Kalex-KTM          1m43.029s  + 4.695s
29.  Lincoln Gilding      K1 Honda                 1m43.045s  + 4.711s
30.  Riccardo Moretti     Mahindra                 1m44.393s  + 6.059s
31.  Toni Finsterbusch    Germany Honda            1m44.809s  + 6.475s
32.  Sam Clarke           Fastline Honda           1m46.873s  + 8.539s
33.  Niccolo Antonelli    Gresini FTR-Honda
34.  Danny Webb           Mahindra

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