Argentina Moto3: Binder beats Fenati to take maiden pole

South African rider Brad Binder secured his first ever Grand Prix pole position after topping a typically close Moto3 qualifying session by three tenths of a second in Argentina.

Binder, who was second quickest after final practice behind Romano Fenati, set the pace early on in the session with a benchmark of 1m50.217s on the opening runs.

That stood until Malaysian rookie Khairul Idham Pawi caused a stir by topping the times on the second runs, the Honda Team Asia man beating Binder's time by a scant 0.011s.

Ajo KTM rider Binder nonetheless quickly responded with a 1m49.767s to retake the top spot and seal his first pole position on his 77th attempt at Grand Prix level.

Fenati ultimately proved his closest challenger as the Sky Racing KTM rider vaulted up to second in the closing stages, 0.324s off the pace, narrowly ahead of Estrella Galicia Honda's Jorge Navarro.

That demoted Pawi to fourth place, but having taken a penalty for unsporting behaviour in practice, he drops to seventh behind fellow rookies Niccolo Bulega (Sky Racing KTM) and Joan Mir (Leopard KTM), as well as Enea Bastianini (Honda).

Qatar winner Niccolo Antonelli (Ongetta Honda) and Fabio Quartararo (Leopard KTM) complete the third row behind Pawi, while Livio Loi (RW Honda) rounds off the top 10.

Aron Canet (Estrella Galicia Honda) will start 14th after suffering a nasty high-side at Turn 5, while Qatar podium finisher Francesco Bagnaia (Aspar Mahindra) was one of four riders involved in a late pile-up and will start well down in 25th.

Qualifying results:

Pos	Rider	Team	Bike	Time
1	Brad Binder	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM RC 250 GP	1:49.767
2	Romano Fenati	SKY Racing Team VR46	KTM RC 250 GP	1:50.091
3	Jorge Navarro	Estrella Galicia 0,0	Honda NSF250RW	1:50.134
4	Nicolo Bulega	SKY Racing Team VR46	KTM RC 250 GP	1:50.278
5	Joan Mir	Leopard Racing	KTM RC 250 GP	1:50.342
6	Enea Bastianini	Gresini Racing Moto3	Honda NSF250RW	1:50.392
7	Khairul Idham Pawi	Honda Team Asia	Honda NSF250RW	1:50.204
8	Niccolo Antonelli	Ongetta-Rivacold	Honda NSF250RW	1:50.400
9	Fabio Quartararo	Leopard Racing	KTM RC 250 GP	1:50.428
10	Livio Loi	RW Racing GP BV	Honda NSF250RW	1:50.522
11	Hiroki Ono	Honda Team Asia	Honda NSF250RW	1:50.710
12	Juan Francisco Guevara	RBA Racing Team	KTM RC 250 GP	1:50.714
13	Philipp Oetll	Schedl GP Racing	KTM RC 250 GP	1:50.716
14	Aron Canet	Estrella Galicia 0,0	Honda NSF250RW	1:50.733
15	Jakub Kornfeil	Drive M7 SIC Racing Team	Honda NSF250RW	1:50.753
16	Andrea Migno	SKY Racing Team VR46	KTM RC 250 GP	1:50.904
17	Adam Norrodin	Drive M7 SIC Racing Team	Honda NSF250RW	1:50.948
18	Gabriel Rodrigo	RBA Racing Team	KTM RC 250 GP	1:51.001
19	Jorge Martin	ASPAR Mahindra Team Moto3	Mahindra MGP30	1:51.024
20	Andrea Locatelli	Leopard Racing	KTM RC 250 GP	1:51.037
21	Jules Danilo	Ongetta-Rivacold	Honda NSF250RW	1:51.146
22	Alexis Masbou	Peugeot MC Saxoprint	Peugeot MGP30	1:51.196
23	Fabio Di Giannantonio	Gresini Racing Moto3	Honda NSF250RW	1:51.231
24	Francesco Bagnaia	ASPAR Mahindra Team Moto3	Mahindra MGP30	1:51.408
25	Maria Herrera	MH6 Laglisse	KTM RC 250 GP	1:51.416
26	Bo Bendsneyder	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM RC 250 GP	1:51.194
27	Tatsuki Suzuki	CIP-Unicom Starker	Mahindra MGP30	1:51.474
28	John McPhee	Peugeot MC Saxoprint	Peugeot MGP30	1:51.729
29	Stefano Valtulini	3570 Team Italia	Mahindra MGP30	1:52.737
30	Darryn Binder	Platinum Bay Real Estate	Mahindra MGP30	1:53.310
31	Lorenzo Petrarca	3570 Team Italia	Mahindra MGP30	1:53.704
32	Karel Hanika	Platinum Bay Real Estate	Mahindra MGP30	1:52.392
33	Fabio Spiranelli	CIP-Unicom Starker	Mahindra MGP30	1:54.463