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Misano Moto3: Sandro Cortese on pole as title rival Maverick Vinales struggles

Sandro Cortese claimed his sixth Moto3 pole of the season with an emphatic late display at Misano

The German's performance was all the more significant as his main title rival Maverick Vinales - currently 32 points behind Cortese - struggled with a water pump-related issue and wound up just 11th.

Running in dry conditions for the first time all weekend, times tumbled throughout the session and top spot traded hands on an almost constant basis.

That trend was halted moving into the final 10 minutes however as Cortese (Ajo KTM) hit the front.

Able to improve his own benchmark several times, the 22-year-old stayed clear of the chasing pack and eventually finished more than three tenths of a second clear.

There was no such luxury for Vinales. Forced to miss the opening half of the session due to a fluid leak on his Avintia FTR-Honda, he eventually got out onto the track but was on the back foot and never looked a contender.

In the end, he salvaged 11th with his final flyer, set just as the chequered flag flew.

In his absence, the second and third spots of the front row were claimed by Italian riders on Honda machinery, with Romano Fenati (Italia FMI) edging Niccolo Antonelli (Gresini) by just 0.019s.

Danny Kent (Ajo KTM) returned from an early fall to take fourth ahead of RW Kalex-KTM's Luis Salom, who trails Vinales by just 19 points.

One notable absentee was the Caretta Honda of Alexis Masbou. The French rider, currently sixth in the championship, was ruled out of the weekend and could well miss future races after fracturing his femur in testing at Misano.

Adrian Martin (Laglisse Honda) was also missing, having fractured his scaphoid earlier in the weekend.

Pos  Rider                Team/Bike                Time       Gap
 1.  Sandro Cortese       Ajo KTM                  1m44.201s
 2.  Romano Fenati        Italia FMI FTR-Honda     1m44.571s  + 0.370s
 3.  Niccolo Antonelli    Gresini Honda            1m44.590s  + 0.389s
 4.  Danny Kent           Ajo KTM                  1m44.843s  + 0.642s
 5.  Luis Salom           RW Kalex-KTM             1m44.857s  + 0.656s
 6.  Jonas Folger         Aspar Kalex KTM          1m44.877s  + 0.676s
 7.  Alessandro Tonucci   Italia FMI FTR-Honda     1m44.909s  + 0.708s
 8.  Muhammad Zulfahmi    Ajo KTM                  1m45.078s  + 0.877s
 9.  Miguel Oliveira      Monlau Honda             1m45.116s  + 0.915s
10.  Arthur Sissis        Ajo KTM                  1m45.142s  + 0.941s
11.  Maverick Vinales     Avintia FTR-Honda        1m45.230s  + 1.029s
12.  Louis Rossi          Germany FTR-Honda        1m45.259s  + 1.058s
13.  Hector Faubel        Aspar Kalex-KTM          1m45.260s  + 1.059s
14.  Brad Binder          RW Kalex-KTM             1m45.289s  + 1.088s
15.  Efren Vazquez        Laglisse Honda           1m45.332s  + 1.131s
16.  Alberto Moncayo      Aspar Kalex-KTM          1m45.332s  + 1.131s
17.  Alex Rins            Monlau Honda             1m45.333s  + 1.132s
18.  Jakub Kornfeil       Ongetta FTR-Honda        1m45.926s  + 1.725s
19.  Kevin Calia          Elle2Ciatti Honda        1m46.437s  + 2.236s
20.  Alan Techer          Technomag-CIP TSR-Honda  1m46.518s  + 2.317s
21.  Jack Miller          Caretta Honda            1m46.524s  + 2.323s
22.  Jasper Iwema         FGR-Honda                1m46.589s  + 2.388s
23.  Giulian Pedone       Ambrogio Oral            1m46.675s  + 2.474s
24.  Niklas Ajo           TT Motion KTM            1m46.678s  + 2.477s
25.  Alex Marquez         Estrella Suter Honda     1m46.801s  + 2.600s
26.  Danny Webb           Mahindra                 1m47.143s  + 2.942s
27.  Luigi Morciano       Ioda                     1m47.735s  + 3.534s
28.  Josep Rodriguez      Ongetta FTR-Honda        1m47.995s  + 3.794s
29.  Stefano Valtulini    Imperiali Honda          1m48.109s  + 3.908s
30.  Armando Pontone      Ioda                     1m48.146s  + 3.945s
31.  Michael Rinaldi      Caretta Honda            1m48.184s  + 3.983s
32.  Toni Finsterbusch    MZ-Honda                 1m48.312s  + 4.111s
33.  Miroslav Popov       Mahindra                 1m48.347s  + 4.146s
34.  Kenta Fujii          Technomag-CIP TSR-Honda  1m48.672s  + 4.471s
35.  Adrian Martin        Laglisse Honda           -          -

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