David Almansa led Moto3 World Championship practice Friday afternoon at Red Bull Ring – Spielberg, in Austria. Almansa used his Pirelli-shod Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP KTM to lap the 2.7-mile (4.35 km) track in 1:39.668 to lead the field of 26 riders.
Maximo Quiles was second-best with a time of 1:39.863 on his CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team KTM.
Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Alvaro Carpe claimed the third and final spot on the front with a lap time of 1:40.171.
Matteo Bertelle, piloting his LEVEL UP – MTA KTM finished fourth with a time of 1:40.190.
Carpe’s teammate, Brian Uriarte, got fifth with a lap time of 1:40.278.
More, from a press release issued by MotoGP:
Almansa fastest from Quiles on Friday in Austria. Less than a second covered the top 14 but it was a familiar story at the top of the timings.
Once again, it was a Friday to remember for David Almansa (Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP) as the Spaniard topped both FP1 and Practice timesheets, the 20th time he’s found himself leading a session this season. A1’39.667 saw him within striking distance of the all-time lap record and with Saturday’s sessions still to come, don’t bet against a new one being set.
Almansa was metronomic from the get-go and set a relentless pace throughout, the majority of the time saw him with P1 next to his name. 0.195s behind, Maximo Quiles (CFMOTO Aspar Gaviota Team) is the lap record holder for the time being and was the only other rider along with Almansa in the 1’39s. Three tenths further back, Alvaro Carpe (Red Bull KTM Ajo) left it late to put in a fast lap but did finish P3 at the chequered flag.
Fourth place honours went to Matteo Bertelle (LEVELUP-MTA) who had a late fall at Turn 3 and disagreement with the track marshals; he remounted in order to set his fastest lap of the session. Brian Uriarte (Red Bull KTM Ajo) rounded out the top five, one place ahead of Hakim Danish (AEON Credit – MT Helmets – MSI), who was a late crasher too.
Adrian Fernandez (Leopard Racing) was the last rider to sneak into the top 14, denying David Muñoz (Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP) an ideal return from injury with the #64 in 15th, ahead of Guido Pini (Leopard Racing), 2025 Austrian GP polesitter Valentin Perrone (Red Bull KTM Tech3), Veda Pratama (Honda Team Asia) and Marco Morelli (CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team), setting up for a closely-contested Q1.
