Jerez Moto3: Rossi protege Bulega scores maiden pole position

Bulega, a protege of MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi, set his benchmark of 1m46.223s before the final of two pit stops, leading the way by four tenths.

Although he didn't improve on his final stint, neither did most of the field.

Practice pacesetter Binder was an exception but his flyer fell two tenths short as well, the Red Bull KTM Ajo rider settling for runner-up.

Jorge Navarro will complete the front row, beating Francesco Bagnaia's late effort by just two thousandths.

Fifth-placed Niccolo Antonelli fell at around halfway through the session while running third and, even though he hurt his knee, the Italian rejoined for the final minutes but failed to improve.

Enea Bastianini, whose last lap was ruined by a crash, ended up sixth, followed by Joan Mir and Juanfran Guevara.

Bulega's teammate Romano Fenati and Jakub Kornfeil completed the top 10, followed by Aron Canet, who had two of his laps deleted due to track limits.

Full times

Pos.	Rider	Team	Bike	Time
1	Nicolo Bulega	SKY Racing Team VR46	KTM	1:46.223
2	Brad Binder	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM	1:46.436
3	Jorge Navarro	Estrella Galicia 0,0	Honda	1:46.678
4	Francesco Bagnaia	ASPAR Mahindra Team Moto3	Mahindra	1:46.680
5	Niccolo Antonelli	Ongetta-Rivacold	Honda	1:46.705
6	Enea Bastianini	Gresini Racing Moto3	Honda	1:46.827
7	Joan Mir	Leopard Racing	KTM	1:46.962
8	Juanfran Guevara	RBA Racing Team	KTM	1:46.967
9	Romano Fenati	SKY Racing Team VR46	KTM	1:47.072
10	Jakub Kornfeil	Drive M7 SIC Racing Team	Honda	1:47.131
11	Aron Canet	Estrella Galicia 0,0	Honda	1:47.154
12	Fabio Quartararo	Leopard Racing	KTM	1:47.271
13	Philipp Oettl	Schedl GP Racing	KTM	1:47.276
14	Jorge Martin	ASPAR Mahindra Team Moto3	Mahindra	1:47.281
15	Jules Danilo	Ongetta-Rivacold	Honda	1:47.325
16	Albert Arenas	MRW Mahindra Aspar Team	Mahindra	1:47.361
17	Andrea Migno	SKY Racing Team VR46	KTM	1:47.397
18	Bo Bendsneyder	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM	1:47.528
19	Hiroki Ono	Honda Team Asia	Honda	1:47.580
20	Livio Loi	RW Racing GP BV	Honda	1:47.618
21	Tatsuki Suzuki	CIP-Unicom Starker	Mahindra	1:47.654
22	Fabio Di Giannantonio	Gresini Racing Moto3	Honda	1:47.734
23	Gabriel Rodrigo	RBA Racing Team	KTM	1:47.736
24	Khairul Idham Pawi	Honda Team Asia	Honda	1:47.740
25	John McPhee	Peugeot MC Saxoprint	Peugeot	1:47.746
26	Karel Hanika	Platinum Bay Real Estate	Mahindra	1:47.830
27	Andrea Locatelli	Leopard Racing	KTM	1:47.978
28	Adam Norrodin	Drive M7 SIC Racing Team	Honda	1:48.025
29	Davide Pizzoli	Procercasa - 42 Motorsport	KTM	1:48.090
30	Alexis Masbou	Peugeot MC Saxoprint	Peugeot	1:48.431
31	Darryn Binder	Platinum Bay Real Estate	Mahindra	1:48.499
32	Lorenzo Petrarca	3570 Team Italia	Mahindra	1:48.595
33	Maria Herrera	MH6 Laglisse	KTM	1:49.245
34	Fabio Spiranelli	CIP-Unicom Starker	Mahindra	1:49.580
35	Enzo Boulom	Procercasa - 42 Motorsport	KTM	1:49.821
	Stefano Valtulini	3570 Team Italia	Mahindra	No Time