2023 Portimão Moto3 Qualifying Result: An Early Strike Seals The Deal

No longer the first qualifying session of the day, but the lightweight class made it worth the wait with a fast pace under lap record once again. Some solid teamwork secured Ayumu Sasaki pole position only a handful of minutes into Q2 and the gap to the pursuers was so significant that he could afford to sit out the final part of the session. Rookie José Antonio Rueda continues to impress and managed to close the gap to the poleman somewhat, starting his debut season with a second grid position. There was a first for Joel Kelso as well, the Australian also securing a first front row start with a time four tenths off pole.

After leading the way on Friday, Dani Holgado will open the second row of the grid ahead of P3 leader Ivan Ortolá and rookie David Alonso. Xavi Artigas led the escape from Q1 and climbed as high as seventh, sharing third row with Deniz Öncü and Jaume Masia. Stefano Nepa rounded out the top 10 positions, ahead of Kaito Toba and Q1 graduate Riccardo Rossi.

A rather underwhelming David Muñoz could not do better than 13th on the grid, ahead of rookie Collin Veijer and the much more experienced Tatsuki Suzuki. A big surprise was on the cards from Diogo Moreira as well, the Brazilian starting the first race of the year from down in 16th position, together with Ryusei Yamanaka and David Salvador – the trio over a second slower than the poleman.

Results:

Pos	No.	Rider	Bike	Time	Diff	Prev
1	71	Ayumu Sasaki	Husqvarna	1:46.798
2	99	Jose Antonio Rueda	KTM	1:47.172	0.374	0.374
3	66	Joel Kelso	CFMoto	1:47.248	0.450	0.076
4	96	Daniel Holgado	KTM	1:47.412	0.614	0.164
5	48	Ivan Ortola	KTM	1:47.514	0.716	0.102
6	80	David Alonso	GasGas	1:47.519	0.721	0.005
7	43	Xavier Artigas	CFMoto	1:47.531	0.733	0.012
8	53	Deniz Öncü	KTM	1:47.561	0.763	0.030
9	5	Jaume Masia	Honda	1:47.580	0.782	0.019
10	82	Stefano Nepa	KTM	1:47.589	0.791	0.009
11	54	Riccardo Rossi	Honda	1:47.606	0.808	0.000
11	27	Kaito Toba	Honda	1:47.606	0.808	0.017
13	44	David Muñoz	KTM	1:47.628	0.830	0.022
14	95	Collin Veijer	Husqvarna	1:47.854	1.056	0.226
15	24	Tatsuki Suzuki	Honda	1:47.892	1.094	0.038
16	10	Diogo Moreira	KTM	1:48.046	1.248	0.154
17	6	Ryusei Yamanaka	GasGas	1:48.200	1.402	0.154
18	38	David Salvador	KTM	1:48.388	1.590	0.188
		Q1 Results:
Q2	43	Xavier Artigas	CFMoto	1:47.694
Q2	24	Tatsuki Suzuki	Honda	1:47.894	0.200	0.200
Q2	95	Collin Veijer	Husqvarna	1:47.913	0.219	0.019
Q2	54	Riccardo Rossi	Honda	1:48.092	0.398	0.179
19	18	Matteo Bertelle	Honda	1:48.206	0.512	0.114
20	19	Scott Ogden	Honda	1:48.293	0.599	0.087
21	7	Filippo Farioli	KTM	1:48.614	0.920	0.321
22	64	Mario Suryo Aji	Honda	1:48.687	0.993	0.073
23	63	Syarifuddin Azman	KTM	1:48.729	1.035	0.042
24	70	Joshua Whatley	Honda	1:48.731	1.037	0.002
25	55	Romano Fenati	Honda	1:48.834	1.140	0.103
26	72	Taiyo Furusato	Honda	1:49.271	1.577	0.437
27	22	Ana Carrasco	KTM	1:49.379	1.685	0.108
28	20	Lorenzo Fellon	KTM	1:50.055	2.361	0.676