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Sandro Cortese becomes first ever Moto3 pole winner in Qatar

Sandro Cortese will start from pole position for the first ever Moto3 race in Qatar

The German, a long-time frontrunner in Moto3's 125cc predecessor series, denied pre-season title favourite Maverick Vinales (Avintia) by 0.016 seconds with his final lap on the Ajo KTM.

The pair - who had also topped all three practice sessions between them - were just two of the protagonists in an epic session-long pole battle that had also involved Alex Rins, Luis Salom, Louis Rossi, and Romano Fenati at various stages.

Rossi held pole going into the closing moments before first Vinales, then Cortese jumped ahead, but the Frenchman (ironically riding for Team Germany) held on to a front row spot.

Salom qualified fourth for RW Racing, followed by Niklas Ajo (TT Motion KTM) and Fenati - the leading world championship rookie in the field.

Zulfahmi Khairuddin showed a step forward from his 125cc form to qualify seventh for Ajo. Miguel Oliveira (Monlau), Arthur Sissis (Ajo) and Alexis Masbou (Caretta) completed the top 10.

Sometime provisional pole-holder Rins fell back to 13th in the end.

It was a disappointing session for Aspar, the team that took Nico Terol to the final 125cc title, as its riders Alberto Moncayo and Hector Faubel could only qualify 14th and 16th.

Pos  Rider                Team/Bike                Time       Gap
 1.  Sandro Cortese       Ajo KTM                  2m08.188s
 2.  Maverick Vinales     Avintia FTR-Honda        2m08.204s  + 0.016s
 3.  Louis Rossi          Germany FTR-Honda        2m08.303s  + 0.115s
 4.  Luis Salom           RW Kalex-KTM             2m08.566s  + 0.378s
 5.  Niklas Ajo           TT Motion KTM            2m08.734s  + 0.546s
 6.  Romano Fenati        Italia FMI FTR-Honda     2m08.799s  + 0.611s
 7.  Zulfahmi Khairuddin  Ajo KTM                  2m08.847s  + 0.659s
 8.  Miguel Oliveira      Monlau Honda             2m08.926s  + 0.738s
 9.  Arthur Sissis        Ajo KTM                  2m09.001s  + 0.813s
10.  Alexis Masbou        Caretta Honda            2m09.107s  + 0.919s
11.  Alessandro Tonucci   Italia FMI FTR-Honda     2m09.119s  + 0.931s
12.  Danny Kent           Ajo KTM                  2m09.126s  + 0.938s
13.  Alex Rins            Monlau Honda             2m09.139s  + 0.951s
14.  Alberto Moncayo      Aspar Kalex-KTM          2m09.370s  + 1.182s
15.  Brad Binder          RW Kalex-KTM             2m09.560s  + 1.372s
16.  Hector Faubel        Aspar Kalex-KTM          2m09.869s  + 1.681s
17.  Jasper Iwema         FGR-Honda                2m09.876s  + 1.688s
18.  Alan Techer          Technomag-CIP TSR-Honda  2m09.991s  + 1.803s
19.  Jakub Kornfeil       Ongetta FTR-Honda        2m10.142s  + 1.954s
20.  Niccolo Antonelli    Gresini Honda            2m10.150s  + 1.962s
21.  Efren Vazquez        Laglisse Honda           2m10.577s  + 2.389s
22.  Ivan Moreno          Laglisse FTR-Honda       2m10.760s  + 2.572s
23.  Marcel Schrotter     Mahindra                 2m11.055s  + 2.867s
24.  Adrian Martin        Laglisse Honda           2m11.264s  + 3.076s
25.  Danny Webb           Mahindra                 2m11.317s  + 3.129s
26.  Jack Miller          Caretta Honda            2m11.461s  + 3.273s
27.  Isaac Viñales        Ongetta FTR-Honda        2m11.651s  + 3.463s
28.  Kenta Fujii          Technomag-CIP TSR-Honda  2m12.845s  + 4.657s
29.  Simone Grotzkyj      Ambrogio Next Oral       2m12.960s  + 4.772s
30.  Luigi Morciano       Ioda                     2m13.024s  + 4.836s
31.  Toni Finsterbusch    MZ-Honda                 2m13.254s  + 5.066s
32.  Jonas Folger         Ioda                     2m13.695s  + 5.507s

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Previous article Nico Terol becomes last ever 125cc champion as Maverick Vinales wins Valencia race
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