Submitted by Zara Daniela on
An acceptably warm afternoon at Motorland Aragon set the scene for the first qualifying session of the day and it was the usual script for the lightweight class. Having looked strong throughout the weekend, Raul Fernandez set the bar high halfway throughout Q2 and no one could rob him of his fourth pole position of the season. Celestino Vietti reduced the gap to only five hundredths of a second to secure his first front row start of the season and the two leaders seemed to be some of the few riders not blatantly cruising in the closing stages of Q2, which could mean some upcoming penalties. Championship leader Albert Arenas made a late and possibly crucial jump onto the front row, half a second off pole.
Alonso Lopez is set to open the second row ahead of Tatsuki Suzuki and Romano Fenati, while Carlos Tatay expertly strategized his way out of Q1 and onto the third row of the grid. Championship hopeful Ai Ogura qualified in a more respectable eighth, joined on row three by Q1 escapee Gabriel Rodrigo. John McPhee was the last rider to sneak out of Q1 and completed the top 10 in Q2, eighth tenths off pole and in the company of Darryn Binder and Niccolo Antonelli on row four.
Jaume Masia continued his up and down weekend with a disappointing 17th position in qualifying, ahead of Ayumu Sasaki, who collaborated well with Tatay to escape Q1 but could not replicate that the second time around.
Results:
| Pos | No. | Rider | Bike | Time | Diff | Prev |
| 1 | 25 | Raul Fernandez | KTM | 1'57.681 | ||
| 2 | 13 | Celestino Vietti | KTM | 1'57.740 | 0.059 | 0.059 |
| 3 | 75 | Albert Arenas | KTM | 1'58.191 | 0.510 | 0.451 |
| 4 | 21 | Alonso Lopez | Husqvarna | 1'58.212 | 0.531 | 0.021 |
| 5 | 24 | Tatsuki Suzuki | Honda | 1'58.268 | 0.587 | 0.056 |
| 6 | 55 | Romano Fenati | Husqvarna | 1'58.272 | 0.591 | 0.004 |
| 7 | 99 | Carlos Tatay | KTM | 1'58.315 | 0.634 | 0.043 |
| 8 | 79 | Ai Ogura | Honda | 1'58.365 | 0.684 | 0.050 |
| 9 | 2 | Gabriel Rodrigo | Honda | 1'58.549 | 0.868 | 0.184 |
| 10 | 17 | John McPhee | Honda | 1'58.550 | 0.869 | 0.001 |
| 11 | 40 | Darryn Binder | KTM | 1'58.562 | 0.881 | 0.012 |
| 12 | 23 | Niccolò Antonelli | Honda | 1'58.806 | 1.125 | 0.244 |
| 13 | 16 | Andrea Migno | KTM | 1'58.890 | 1.209 | 0.084 |
| 14 | 11 | Sergio Garcia | Honda | 1'59.221 | 1.540 | 0.331 |
| 15 | 53 | Deniz Öncü | KTM | 1'59.280 | 1.599 | 0.059 |
| 16 | 52 | Jeremy Alcoba | Honda | 1'59.319 | 1.638 | 0.039 |
| 17 | 5 | Jaume Masia | Honda | 1'59.438 | 1.757 | 0.119 |
| 18 | 71 | Ayumu Sasaki | KTM | 1'59.949 | 2.268 | 0.511 |
| Q1 Results: | ||||||
| Q2 | 99 | Carlos Tatay | KTM | 1'58.644 | ||
| Q2 | 71 | Ayumu Sasaki | KTM | 1'58.744 | 0.100 | 0.100 |
| Q2 | 2 | Gabriel Rodrigo | Honda | 1'58.959 | 0.315 | 0.215 |
| Q2 | 17 | John McPhee | Honda | 1'59.074 | 0.430 | 0.115 |
| 19 | 27 | Kaito Toba | KTM | 1'59.120 | 0.476 | 0.046 |
| 20 | 7 | Dennis Foggia | Honda | 1'59.181 | 0.537 | 0.061 |
| 21 | 73 | Maximilian Kofler | KTM | 1'59.285 | 0.641 | 0.104 |
| 22 | 12 | Filip Salac | Honda | 1'59.310 | 0.666 | 0.025 |
| 23 | 50 | Jason Dupasquier | KTM | 1'59.409 | 0.765 | 0.099 |
| 24 | 82 | Stefano Nepa | KTM | 1'59.419 | 0.775 | 0.010 |
| 25 | 92 | Yuki Kunii | Honda | 1'59.443 | 0.799 | 0.024 |
| 26 | 9 | Davide Pizzoli | KTM | 1'59.465 | 0.821 | 0.022 |
| 27 | 54 | Riccardo Rossi | KTM | 1'59.987 | 1.343 | 0.522 |
| 28 | 89 | Khairul Idham Pawi | Honda | 2'00.135 | 1.491 | 0.148 |
| 29 | 70 | Barry Baltus | KTM | 2'00.268 | 1.624 | 0.133 |
| 30 | 6 | Ryusei Yamanaka | Honda | 2'01.560 | 2.916 | 1.292 |
Comments
Cruising for Race Bans
I would like to see Dorna implement race bans for the idiots hanging around on the straight waiting for a tow. These guys weren't even "cruising" while looking for a tow. Clearly grid penalties aren't enough to get the riders' attention.