Moto2 Portugal Portimao Qualifying: Filip Salac takes his first pole position in Moto1

Aron Canet set the best time in the third free practice session of the Portuguese Grand Prix in the Moto2 category, first race of the 2023 World Championship. The Pons team rider stopped the time at 1'42.003 ahead of Filip Salac (Gresini) beaten by only 86 thousandths and Pedro Acosta (KTM Ajo) by a little more than a tenth and who regrets a fall.

The SpeedUp team falls just short of the top 3 with Alonso Lopez et Fermin Aldeguer who finished respectively in fourth and fifth position ahead of Barry Baltus (Racing GP). Seventh beat for Manuel Gonzalez (VR46 MasterCamp) which is ahead Jake dixon (Aspar) and Sam Lowes (Marc VDS). Celestine Vietti (Fantic Racing) is in tenth position.

What will these first qualifications of the season have in store for us? Moto2 ? They will take place in two parts with Q1 then Q2. Before knowing the verdict, here is the table which summarizes the facts so far.

Moto2™ Portimão	2022	2023
P1	2'04.519 Zonta Van den Goorbergh	1'43.046 Jake Dixon
P2	2'00.678 Marcel Schrötter	1'42.391 Pedro Acosta
P3	2'00.810 Celestino Vietti	1'42.003 Aron Canet
Q1	1'45.533 Marcos Ramirez	1'42.965 Tony Arbolino
Q2	1'44.151 Arón Canet	1'42.323 Filip Salac
Warm Up	1'43.353 Arón Canet
Course	Roberts, Vietti, Navarro
All time lap record	1″42.101 Raúl Fernández 2021	1'42.003 Aron Canet

It's 26.1° in the air and 46.3° on the track, it's sunny

Let's go for Q1: For the record, only the 4 best times achieved by the drivers allowing them to progress to Q2

It is Gomez which sets the reference time in 1.43.540s. He is ahead Arbolino, Binder and Van Den Goorbergh

Arbolino in turn takes the best time in 1.43.207s

The 4 drivers provisionally qualified with 3 minutes to go would be: Arbolino, Van Den Goorbergh, Alcoba and Binder

End of session, the 4 “nominees” are Arbolino in 1.42.965s ahead of Van Den Goorbergh, Alcoba and Binder

Q2 session:

       Full results:

It's gone for 15min

It is Lowes which is positioned at the top of the basket in 1.43.164s. He is taken by Bendsneyder “hot” again from Q1 (1.42.948s). Acosta takes the lead in 1.42.826s but that's without counting on Canet who goes on the offensive and sets the best time in 1.42.574s

Van Den Goorbergh crashes in turn 1

Salac, very fast since the start of the weekend, took provisional pole in 1.42.323s. Canet, Gonzalez, Acosta and Alcoba complete this top5 provisional on the starting grid

kick of Lopez

There are 3 minutes left in this qualifying session where for the moment Salac is holding on to the lead. White fall in turn 10, which raises a yellow flag in the sector while the session is 55 seconds from the finish...which disrupts the times achieved by the drivers on the track..

End of session and Salac takes the first pole of his career ahead of Canet, Acosta, Vietti and Gonzalez 

      Full results: