Veda Pratama secured his first-ever Moto3 pole position at Phillip Island in changing conditions, becoming the first Indonesian to achieve this feat in the Moto3 category! The Honda Team Asia rider, who came through Q1, took advantage of his position at the back of the pack on his final lap to use the riders ahead of him as reference points and set a time of 1:35.299. The young Indonesian edged out Maximo Quiles, the new world champion, by just 0.021 seconds, despite Quiles having set the fastest time in the wet during FP2.
Joel Kelso, the local favorite who had led the session for much of the race, completes the front row in third position. The Australian rider saw his final attempt ruined by a mistake from Rico Salmela at turn 4, who hit him from behind. Fortunately, Kelso managed to stay upright.
Joel Esteban also survived a collision, struck by Ryusei Yamanaka, who lifted his leg to turn without seeing the Level Up-MTA rider approaching. Despite this incident, the Spaniard managed to improve his time on that lap and took fourth place. Eddie O'Shea, who also came through Q1, completed the top five.
David Almansa had a cruel end to the session. Having improved his time to fourth place, the Intact GP rider crashed when the rain intensified, dropping him to 11th. Brian Uriarte, who took pole position last week in Indonesia, finished only 14th, behind his teammate Alvaro Carpe in 12th and Valentin Perrone in 13th, the latter having to serve a long-lap penalty for helping Marianos Nikolis get up during practice.
Moto3 Australia – Q2 Standings:
Ranking: MotoGP.com
