Red Bull KTM Ajo rider places just 18 thousandths of a second off pole position for the Valencia GP.  Bo Bendsneyder, purchase eighth, thumb will start from the third row.

The starting grid for the last race of the 2016 Moto3 World Championship season was decided on Saturday in Valencia. Red Bull KTM Ajo riders Brad Binder and Bo Bendsneyder took their opportunity to place high up the order for the season finale, pharm with Binder only missing out on pole position by 18 thousandths of a second. Bendsneyder took a spot on the third row of the grid.

The last Free Practice session was used by the Red Bull KTM Ajo duo to put in a long run, with the race in mind. Binder and Bendsneyder went out with used tyres, then came in for a brief stop to change tyres and put in stints of 13 and 12 laps, respectively. Binder, third with a 1:39.909 best lap, and Bendsneyder, tenth with a 1:40.079 time, found a great pace for tomorrow, although only the Dutchman was able to improve his times from yesterday.

Qualifying began with a small problem for Bendsneyder, but a quick stop in the pits for his crew to fix the issue enabled him to rapidly get back on track with his teammate. Both riders clocked their fastest time on their penultimate attempt, as Binder took second with a 1:39.279 lap and Bendsneyder eighth with a 1:39.553.

Although he just missed out on the top spot in qualifying, Binder is the rider with the most pole positions this season with a total of six. The Moto3 Valencian GP takes place tomorrow at 11am local time.

Results – Qualifying Practice
1. Aron Canet (Honda) 1:39.261
2. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:39.279 +0.018
3. Hiroki Ono (Honda) 1:39.383 +0.122
4. Nicolo Bulega (KTM) 1:39.420 +0.159
5. Juanfran Guevara (KTM) 1:39.463 +0.202
8. Bo Bendsneyder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:39.553 +0.292

41 BRAD BINDER
“The pole position has been very close. I lost about four laps during the qualifying session, just because some riders were waiting around. In the end, I told myself that I had to go for it on my own, give it everything and see what I was capable of doing. On the penultimate lap I was able to ride completely by myself and set a 1:39.2, which is a really fast time. We took a step forward with the bike in qualifying, and that gives me a lot of confidence ahead of the race. Tomorrow we will try to win, I have nothing to lose and it will be my last race before moving up to Moto2, so I will try to achieve the best possible result and move up to the intermediate class happy.”

64 BO BENDSNEYDER
“First of all I want to thank the team, because without them I would not have been able to finish the qualifying session -since we had a little mechanical problem in the early stages. I am happy with my 8th position; in FP3 we had a very good pace and in qualifying we also set a fast time. The team did a great job. On the penultimate lap I was riding amongst many riders, so I had to find a good position and a good slipstream; I put an excellent lap together with Brad [Binder] and Bulega. I think tomorrow we must fight to be among the Top 10 in the race.”