125cc – Estoril QP1 – Mike Di Meglio on provisional pole

After positive pre-season tests and the near podium at Losail it was only to be expected. Mike Di Meglio took provisional pole position in the 125cc class in Estoril, setting the best time in 1'47"990 masterfully driving the Derbi RSA #63 fielded by the Scandinavian team Ajo Motorsport. The transalpine rider, fresh from three seasons conditioned by the last performance of the Hondas he rode, has found in Aki Ajo's team an ideal dimension to be able to do well, as demonstrated today in an unprecedented provisional front row: Di Meglio on pole, Nicolas Terol confirmed at high levels with the second time, third was Michael Ranseder, Harald Bartol's former protégé who is now a rider for Fiorenzo Caponera's IC Aprilia team.

Closing out the front row comprising only Piaggio Group bikes is Simone Corsi, fourth ahead of Tomoyoshi Koyama, best of the KTM riders despite a violent fall (his high side was scary) at the end. In addition to the Japanese member of the ISPA team Aran KTM we record the crashes of Stefano Bianco and Pol Espargaro, as well as a fall similar to that of the Japanese rider starring the very young Louis Rossi.

Returning to the time rankings, Sandro Cortese was sixth ahead of Sergio Gadea, Gabor Talmacsi, Joan Olive and Andrea Iannone, 10th. The other Italians: not very well Raffaele De Rosa, 12th (on a track where he rode this winter), Zanetti, Lacalendola, Bianco and Lombardi, who returned to the 125cc MotoGP world championship as a wild-card, were more behind.