It’s been a perfect weekend at the Monster Energy British Grand Prix so far for Romano Fenati (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team) and in Moto3™ qualifying, the experienced Italian claimed a second consecutive pole position of 2021. Fenati left it late to beat Q1 graduate Gabriel Rodrigo (Indonesian Racing Gresini Moto3) by 0.043s with a 2:11.325 lap time, as Riccardo Rossi (BOE Owlride) takes picks up a second front row of the season in P3.  

Both World Championship leader Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and second in the title race Sergio Garcia (Valresa GASGAS Aspar Team) both found themselves in Q1 after missing out on a top 14 place in Free Practice. Garcia, winner last time out in Austria, hadn’t posted a time with just under five minutes remaining when he crashed unhurt at Turn 3. At the same time, Acosta was sitting 7th in the session as both Spaniards stared down the barrel of poor qualifying results.

Garcia didn’t really have much time to pit and carried on riding his crashed GASGAS machine, on which he salvaged P10 in the session, with Acosta unable to do better than 8th. The top two in the title race are finding it difficult so far at Silverstone and on Sunday, Acosta and Garcia will start from 22nd and 24th respectively.

After coming through Q1, Rodrigo was in the groove and sat top of the pile with under five minutes to go in the second part of qualifying. Rodrigo’s 2:11.368 was 0.154s ahead of Rossi heading into the closing stages, with Free Practice dominator Fenati yet to set a time. Ayumu Sasaki (Red Bull KTM Tech3) then crashed unhurt down at Stowe corner, and after coming through the first split 0.259s quicker than Rodrigo, the Italian’s lap was cancelled. That meant Fenati had just one lap to get a lap time set.

The first split for Fenati was a very good one – 0.201s under. A stunning third split then saw him hold a 0.266s advantage over Rodrigo’s provisional pole time and sure enough, creaming it around Woodcote, Fenati landed a time good enough for P1 by 0.043s. No one else was on lap times that were going to threaten the pointy end of the times, meaning Fenati held top spot.

Rodrigo and Rossi join Fenati on the front row, with Andrea Migno (Rivacold Snipers Team) picking up P4 late on to lead Row 2. Niccolo Antonelli (Avintia VR46 Academy) and Filip Salac (CarXpert PrüstelGP) join Migno on the second row in 5th and 6th respectively, less than half a second away from Fenati’s time, with Jeremy Alcoba (Indonesian Racing Gresini Moto3) claiming P7. Dennis Foggia (Leopard Racing), Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Tech3) and Jaume Masia (Red Bull KTM Ajo) complete the top 10 at Silverstone, the latter two over a second adrift of Fenati.

Tune into the Moto3™ British Grand Prix at 11:20 local time (GMT+1) on Sunday morning to see if anyone can stop Fenati.

Top 10:
1. Romano Fenati (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team) – 2:11.325
2. Gabriel Rodrigo (Indonesian Racing Gresini Moto3) + 0.043
3. Ricardo Rossi (BOE Owlride) + 0.197
4. Andrea Migno (Rivacold Snipers Team) + 0.265
5. Niccolo Antonelli (Avintia VR46 Academy) + 0.390
6. Filip Salac (CarXpert PrüstelGP) + 0.478
7. Jeremy Alcoba (Indonesia Racing Gresini Moto3) + 0.525
8. Dennis Foggia (Leopard Racing) + 0.560
9. Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Tech3) + 1.066
10. Jaume Masia (Red Bull KTM Ajo) + 1.187