The fifteenth season of the Moto3 World Championship kicks off this weekend in Thailand. After a campaign largely dominated by José Antonio Rueda, the smallest category awaits his successor. A promising rookie last year, Maximo Quiles enters the season as the favorite, predicted to be world champion at the end of the season by most MotoGP riders when questioned.
Free Practice 2: Saturday began with the final Free Practice session of the weekend. David Almansa dominated the session, setting a time of 1:40.922. The Intact GP rider – already fastest on Friday afternoon – left the competition more than three-tenths of a second behind. Adrian Fernandez and Maximo Quiles completed the top three. David Munoz, who missed out on Q1 after a difficult Friday, posted a promising fourth-fastest time for the rest of the session.
Qualification 1: At the start of the session, the battle for the four remaining Q2 qualifying spots was shaping up to be a five-man affair. Eddie O'Shea and his MLav Racing teammate Joel Kelso David were dominating their rivals after the initial runs, with Matteo Bretelle, David Munoz, and Adrian Cruces completing the list of contenders. However, the hierarchy completely changed towards the end of the session, with numerous drivers improving by more than half a second to dislodge the leaders from their positions.
Hakim Danish topped Q1 with a time of 1:41.476, finishing in the middle of a group of drivers that also saw David Munoz improve, crossing the line in 1:41.565 to take second place. Joel Kelso, who led for much of the session, completed the top three with a time of 1:41.800. Rico Salmela caused a surprise, snatching fourth place at the very last moment, just 17 thousandths of a second faster than Cormac Buchanan. The number 27 driver thus secured the final qualifying spot for Q2.
Qualification 2: While the final positions of the session finalized the starting grid for the weekend's Moto3 race, the pecking order remains unclear. After the first runs, Alvaro Carpe secured provisional pole position, ahead of David Almansa and Adrian Fernandez. Maximo Quiles, who showed improvement on Saturday morning after a Friday spent in the shadow of the leaders, is also in contention (4th), while Valentin Perrone, another contender for a front-row start, suffered a time-consuming crash, jeopardizing his chances even before the final sprint began.
Everything came down to the final two minutes of Q2, during which David Almansa found something extra that his rivals couldn't match. Crossing the line in 1:40.088, the number 22 rider broke the track benchmark and finished more than four-tenths of a second ahead of his competitors. This performance naturally secured him pole position for the Moto3 Thailand Grand Prix.
Indeed, in everyone's final attempts, no one could catch him. Alvaro Carpe and Adrian Fernandez will join him on the front row, having posted times four and six-tenths of a second slower, respectively. Carpe had a major scare in Turn 1 in the closing moments. While he managed to maintain control of his bike, he had to abandon his final flying lap. Maximo Quiles completes Q2 with the fourth fastest time.
Moto3 Thailand – Q2 standings:
Ranking : MotoGP.com
