Moto3 Valencia Qualifying: Pedro Acosta defends his title, Lorenzo Fellon will start 6th

This Saturday morning, the track surface was completely dry, although the relatively cool conditions did not allow the times to be improved quickly. Only a handful of drivers managed to go faster than Friday before the last run. Returning from a two-race suspension, Deniz Öncü (KTM, Red Bull KTM Tech3, #53) returned in style, taking first place in FP3 by a tenth of a second from new World Champion Pedro Acosta (KTM, Red Bull KTM Ajo, #37). Joel Kelso (KTM, CIP-Green Power, #66) followed the leader on the track as well as on the timesheets, before Pedro Acosta (KTM, Red Bull KTM Ajo, #37) came between them, but the Australian crashed at turn 2 and the yellow flag caused problems for those who did not respect it…

After the reshuffling of the time sheets, following the times canceled for yellow flags or track limits, Andrea Migno (Honda, Rivacold Snipers Team, #16) inherited fourth place ahead of the leaders of the first session Carlos Tatay (KTM, Reale Avintia Moto3, #99), Dennis Foggia (Honda, Leopard Racing, #7) and Izan Guevara (GasGas, Gaviota Aspar Team, #28). Stefano Nepa (KTM, BOE Owlride, #82) dropped to 8th place following his penalty, he is accompanied by Tatsuki suzuki (Honda, SIC58 Squadra Corse, #24) and Roman Fenati (Husqvarna, Sterilgarda Max Racing Team, #55) in the top 10. With all these penalties, John mcphee (Honda, Petronas Sprinta Racing, #17) and Jeremy Alcove (Honda, Team Gresini Moto3, #52) secured their place in Q2, while Filip Salac (KTM, CarXpert PruestlGP, #12) and Darryn Binder (KTM, Petronas Sprinta Racing, #40) were fast enough on Friday to make up for a rather disappointing FP3 performance and stay in the top 14 combined.

Local pilots Sergio Garcia (GasGas, Aspar Team Moto3, #11) and Jaume Masia (KTM, Red Bull KTM Ajo, #5) will have to make a move to Q1 after finishing practice in 19th and 27th respectively, and will be joined by Niccolo Antonelli (KTM, Reale Avintia, #23), Adrian Fernandez (Husqvarna, Sterilgarda Max Racing Team, #31), Ayumu Sasaki (KTM, Red Bull KTM Tech3, #71) or even Yukii Kuni (Honda, Honda Team Asia, #92), all of whom had times canceled at the end of FP3.

Who will be in pole position for this last Grand Prix of the season? Before answering this question, here is the table which summarizes the facts known so far.

Moto3 ™	Valencia-2 2020	2021
FP1	1'38.413 Tony Arbolino	1'39.561 Izan Guevara
FP2	1'38.479 Jaume Masia	1'41.524 Dennis Foggia
FP3	1'39.399 Deniz Oncu	1'39.256 Deniz Öncü
Q1	1'39.667 John McPhee	1'39.159 Niccolo Antonelli
Q2	1'38.286 Darryn Binder	1'38.668 Pedro Acosta
Warm Up	1'39.511 Ayumu Sasaki
Course	Arbolino, Garcia, Fernandez
All time lap record	1'38.286 Darryn Binder 2020

On this Saturday afternoon, the air temperature was 20°C and the track temperature was 22°C.

Andi Farid Izdihar (Honda, Honda Team Asia, #19) broke his hand this morning in FP3, and will not take part in qualifying, nor obviously in the race.

Places are expensive for Q2, because only 4 of the 16 drivers participating in this Q1 will qualify for this 2nd qualifying session, which will take place immediately afterwards. The drivers spring into action as soon as the green flag is presented to them.

Ayumu Sasaki (KTM, Red Bull KTM Tech3, #71) falls at turn 8 of his first flying lap, qualifying will be complicated for the Tech3 rider.

At the end of the first flying round, Lorenzo Fellon (Honda, SIC58 Squadra Corse, #20) is the fastest in 1'40.016, ahead of Adrian Fernandez (Husqvarna, Sterilgarda Max Racing Team, #31), Jaume Masia (KTM, Red Bull KTM Ajo, #5) and Sergio Garcia (GasGas, Aspar Team Moto3, #11).

Halfway through the session, Xavier Artigas (Honda, Leopard Racing, #43), Adrian Fernandez (Husqvarna, Sterilgarda Max Racing Team, #31), Nicolò Antonelli (KTM, Reale Avintia, #23) and Ryusei Yamanaka (KTM, CarXpert PruestlGP, #6) would be the 4 qualified drivers. Lorenzo Fellon (Honda, SIC58 Squadra Corse, #20) is at his stand, he is currently 6th in the session. The 11 drivers who have so far set a time in this Q1 are within 1 second. Riccardo Rossi (KTM, BOE Owlride, #54) and Alberto Surra (Honda, Rivacold Snipers Team, #67) have not yet achieved any time.

The drivers wait in the pits before returning to the track, with 5 minutes remaining before the end of this Q1. They put on soft tires, in order to achieve a time that would ensure them qualification for Q2.

Sergio Garcia (GasGas, Aspar Team Moto3, #11) came back up, he completed 2 crazy flying laps! Ayumu Sasaki (KTM, Red Bull KTM Tech3, #71) fell for the second time this session, at turn 2, and took time to recover from this violent highside. He will be examined at the circuit’s Medical Center.

At the end of this Q1, these are Nicolò Antonelli (KTM, Reale Avintia, #23), in 1'39.159, Sergio Garcia (GasGas, Aspar Team Moto3, #11), Xavier Artigas (Honda, Leopard Racing, #43) and Lorenzo Fellon (Honda, SIC58 Squadra Corse, #20) who qualify in Q2. Jaume Masia (KTM, Red Bull KTM Ajo, #5) misses Q2 because he went into the green band and his last time is not valid.

Now it's time for Q2, the 4 fastest drivers from Q1 joining the other 14 fastest from the 3 practice sessions. Like Q1, the drivers set off quickly, the hunt for the clock is on!

Once all drivers have passed the timing cell for the first time, the provisional first line would consist ofIzan Guevara (GasGas, Gaviota Aspar Team, #28), in 1'39.223, Sergio Garcia (GasGas, Aspar Team Moto3, #11) and Jeremy Alcove (Honda, Team Gresini Moto3, #52). Xavier Artigas (Honda, Leopard Racing, #43) missed his launch lap at Turn 2 and ended up in the gravel trap. He seems to have a technical problem with his machine.

Midway through the session, when most of the drivers had returned to the pits, Izan Guevara (GasGas, Gaviota Aspar Team, #28) did not improve and would be in pole position with his time of 1'39.223, accompanied on the front row byAndrea Migno (Honda, Rivacold Snipers Team, #16) and Dennis Foggia (Honda, Leopard Racing, #7).

The drivers are waiting in the pit lane, they will complete a single timed lap, because there are less than 2 minutes before the checkered flag is presented. The Valencia track is relatively small, they all cross the timing line before the time is up, but they will effectively only have one flying lap to fight for pole position.

This little game is Peter Acosta (KTM, Red Bull KTM Ajo, #37) who did the best, with pole position obtained with a time of 1'38.668. He is accompanied on the front line by Tatsuki suzuki (Honda, SIC58 Squadra Corse, #24) and Izan Guevara (GasGas, Gaviota Aspar Team, #28). Lorenzo Fellon (Honda, SIC58 Squadra Corse, #20) will start from 6th place!

Ranking of the Q1 session of the Moto3 Grand Prix of the Valencian Community in Valencia:

Ranking of the Q2 session of the Moto3 Grand Prix of the Valencian Community in Valencia:

Credit Ranking: MotoGP.com