Submitted by Zara Daniela on
Given the tight margins throughout practice, qualifying was expected to be a close fight in the lightweight class, but Pedro Acosta started Q2 with a clear mission. Familiar names hogged the limelight throughout but eventually the freshly crowned Moto3 world champion ended his campaign with a Tissot watch, securing a long-awaited maiden pole position by over three tenths of a second. A late charge from Tatsuki Suzuki promoted him to second on the grid, while early session leader Izan Guevara added a second rookie to the front row.
Andrea Migno will open the second row of the grid ahead of Filip Salac and Lorenzo Fellon, the rookie doing very well after just about sneaking out of Q1. Dennis Foggia in seventh place was almost half a second behind the poleman and will be joined on the third row by compatriots Romano Fenati and Q1 leader Niccolò Antonelli. Sergio Garcia looked strong in both qualifying sessions but got lost in the flurry of late laps and dropped to 10th on the grid, sharing fourth row with Carlos Tatay and Jeremy Alcoba.
Despite topping FP3, Deniz Öncü could not replicate that during Q2 and had to settle for 13th, opening row five, ahead of Stefano Nepa and John McPhee. Darryn Binder will start his final race in Moto3 from 16th on the grid, one second off pole and sharing sixth row with rookie Xavier Artigas and replacement rider Joel Kelso. The big surprise of Q1 was Jaume Masia struggling to threaten the top positions and then saw his fastest time cancelled for exceeding track limits, meaning that the local favourite will start the race from the penultimate row of the grid.
Results:
Pos | No. | Rider | Bike | Time | Diff | Prev |
1 | 37 | Pedro Acosta | KTM | 1'38.668 | ||
2 | 24 | Tatsuki Suzuki | Honda | 1'38.978 | 0.310 | 0.310 |
3 | 28 | Izan Guevara | GASGAS | 1'39.053 | 0.385 | 0.075 |
4 | 16 | Andrea Migno | Honda | 1'39.060 | 0.392 | 0.007 |
5 | 12 | Filip Salac | KTM | 1'39.092 | 0.424 | 0.032 |
6 | 20 | Lorenzo Fellon | Honda | 1'39.133 | 0.465 | 0.041 |
7 | 7 | Dennis Foggia | Honda | 1'39.134 | 0.466 | 0.001 |
8 | 55 | Romano Fenati | Husqvarna | 1'39.143 | 0.475 | 0.009 |
9 | 23 | Niccolò Antonelli | KTM | 1'39.149 | 0.481 | 0.006 |
10 | 11 | Sergio Garcia | GASGAS | 1'39.309 | 0.641 | 0.160 |
11 | 99 | Carlos Tatay | KTM | 1'39.317 | 0.649 | 0.008 |
12 | 52 | Jeremy Alcoba | Honda | 1'39.370 | 0.702 | 0.053 |
13 | 53 | Deniz Öncü | KTM | 1'39.493 | 0.825 | 0.123 |
14 | 82 | Stefano Nepa | KTM | 1'39.562 | 0.894 | 0.069 |
15 | 17 | John McPhee | Honda | 1'39.666 | 0.998 | 0.104 |
16 | 40 | Darryn Binder | Honda | 1'39.810 | 1.142 | 0.144 |
17 | 43 | Xavier Artigas | Honda | 1'39.970 | 1.302 | 0.160 |
18 | 66 | Joel Kelso | KTM | 1'40.109 | 1.441 | 0.139 |
Q1 Results: | ||||||
Q2 | 23 | Niccolò Antonelli | KTM | 1'39.159 | ||
Q2 | 11 | Sergio Garcia | GASGAS | 1'39.222 | 0.063 | 0.063 |
Q2 | 43 | Xavier Artigas | Honda | 1'39.374 | 0.215 | 0.152 |
Q2 | 20 | Lorenzo Fellon | Honda | 1'39.410 | 0.251 | 0.036 |
19 | 31 | Adrian Fernandez | Husqvarna | 1'39.428 | 0.269 | 0.018 |
20 | 92 | Yuki Kunii | Honda | 1'39.604 | 0.445 | 0.176 |
21 | 95 | Jose Antonio Rueda | Honda | 1'39.617 | 0.458 | 0.013 |
22 | 6 | Ryusei Yamanaka | KTM | 1'39.873 | 0.714 | 0.256 |
23 | 5 | Jaume Masia | KTM | 1'39.980 | 0.821 | 0.107 |
24 | 27 | Kaito Toba | KTM | 1'40.162 | 1.003 | 0.182 |
25 | 67 | Alberto Surra | Honda | 1'40.202 | 1.043 | 0.040 |
26 | 71 | Ayumu Sasaki | KTM | 1'40.339 | 1.180 | 0.137 |
54 | Riccardo Rossi | KTM |