Sandro Cortese grabs superb Moto3 pole at wet Sachsenring
Sandro Cortese produced a stunning late surge to deprive Danny Kent of a maiden Moto3 pole as heavy rain produced several shocks in a dramatic qualifying session at the Sachsenring
Cortese and his main championship rival Maverick Vinales, who between them have claimed six of the opening seven poles in 2012, found themselves down in 17th and 27th positions respectively with five minutes of the session to run.
Though conditions seemed to worsen in the final minutes, Cortese rallied and set about coming up the order. With three minutes to run he moved to fifth; with one minute, into top spot. It is his fourth pole of the season.
His late spurt was made all the better by Vinales' ongoing struggles, the Avintia FTR-Honda man and championship leader ending the session in 24th.
Cortese's gains cemented a one-two for Ajo KTM, with Kent - on provisional pole for much of the session - demoted into second.
Honda occupied the next three spots courtesy of Adrian Martin (Laglisse), Jack Miller (Caretta), and Jakub Kornfeil (Ongetta FTR), all of whom had held top spot at one stage during the 40-minute session.
Brad Binder (RW Kalex-KTM) edged out Louis Rossi (Team Germany FTR-Honda), Jonas Folger (Ioda) and team-mate Luis Salom in the race for sixth.
Pos Rider Team/Bike Time Gap 1. Sandro Cortese Ajo KTM 1m42.989s 2. Danny Kent Ajo KTM 1m44.474s + 1.485s 3. Adrian Martin Laglisse FTR-Honda 1m44.489s + 1.500s 4. Jack Miller Caretta Honda 1m44.532s + 1.543s 5. Jakub Kornfeil Ongetta FTR-Honda 1m44.585s + 1.596s 6. Brad Binder RW Kalex-KTM 1m44.735s + 1.746s 7. Louis Rossi Germany FTR-Honda 1m44.815s + 1.826s 8. Jonas Folger Ioda 1m44.893s + 1.904s 9. Luis Salom RW Kalex-KTM 1m44.924s + 1.935s 10. Alexis Masbou Caretta Honda 1m44.985s + 1.996s 11. Niklas Ajo TT Motion KTM 1m45.150s + 2.161s 12. Hector Faubel Aspar Kalex-KTM 1m45.372s + 2.383s 13. Alberto Moncayo Aspar Kalex-KTM 1m45.373s + 2.384s 14. Efren Vazquez Laglisse FTR-Honda 1m45.422s + 2.433s 15. Toni Finsterbusch MZ Honda 1m45.497s + 2.508s 16. Luca Gruenwald Freudenberg Honda 1m45.625s + 2.636s 17. Jasper Iwema FGR Honda 1m45.650s + 2.661s 18. Niccolò Antonelli Gresini FTR-Honda 1m45.705s + 2.716s 19. Alan Techer Technomag-CIP TSR Honda 1m45.795s + 2.806s 20. Zulfahmi Khairuddin Ajo KTM 1m45.939s + 2.950s 21. Arthur Sissis Ajo KTM 1m46.002s + 3.013s 22. Danny Webb Mahindra 1m46.046s + 3.057s 23. Simone Grotzkyj Ambrogio Suter-Honda 1m46.173s + 3.184s 24. Maverick Vinales Avintia FTR-Honda 1m46.602s + 3.613s 25. Isaac Vinales Ongetta FTR-Honda 1m46.772s + 3.783s 26. Alessandro Tonucci Italia FMI FTR-Honda 1m46.951s + 3.962s 27. Alex Rins Monlau Suter-Honda 1m46.988s + 3.999s 28. Kevin Hanus Sabo Honda 1m47.003s + 4.014s 29. Giulian Pedone Ambrogio Suter-Honda 1m47.265s + 4.276s 30. Marcel Schrotter Mahindra 1m47.311s + 4.322s 31. Miguel Oliveira Monlau Suter-Honda 1m47.565s + 4.576s 32. Kenta Fujii Technomag-CIP TSR Honda 1m47.854s + 4.865s 33. Luigi Morciano Ioda Italia 1m47.983s + 4.994s 34. Ivan Moreno Laglisse FTR-Honda 1m49.978s + 6.989s 35. Romano Fenati Italia FMI FTR-Honda 1m51.012s + 8.023s
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