Joel Esteban earned pole position during Moto3 World Championship qualifying Saturday at Autódromo Internacional de Goiânia – Ayrton Senna, in Brazil. Riding his Level Up MTA KTM on Pirelli control tires, Esteban topped the 25-rider field with a lap time of 1:26.241.
Valentin Perrone was the best of the rest with a 1:26.447 on his Red Bulll KTM Tech3 machine, and Hakim Danish claimed the third and final spot on the front row with a 1:26.448 on his AEON Credit MT Helmets MSI KTM.
Row-two qualifiers included Honda Team Asia’s Veda Pratama (1:26.506), CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team’s Marco Morelli (1:26.560) and Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Brian Uriarte (1:26.835).
QualifyingResults moto3
More from a press release issued by MotoGP:
Esteban flies to career-first pole in dramatic Moto3 qualifying. A hotly-contested battle for pole brought with it plenty of shocks and surprises as favourites are left scattered across the grid.
A dramatic Moto3 qualifying session took us into the sunset but it didn’t disappoint; a career-first pole was bagged by Joel Esteban (LEVELUP-MTA) whilst he’s joined by Valentin Perrone (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) and Hakim Danish (AEON Credit – MT Helmets – MSI), with the Malaysian taking a mighty career-first front row in Goiania.
After Alvaro Carpe (Red Bull KTM Ajo), Adrian Fernandez (Leopard Racing), Ryusei Yamanaka (AEON Credit – MT Helmets – MSI) and Zen Mitani (Honda Team Asia) graduated from Q1, it was time for the pole position shootout. However, it was red-flagged due to track conditions after a massive highside for Cormac Buchanan (CODE Motorsports) at Turn 4 and a smaller front-end fall for Danish at Turn 6. Both were OK and after a brief pause, action quickly resumed. Lap times dropped all the way into the 1’26s with the likes of CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team duo Marco Morelli and Maximo Quiles both enjoying time at the top of the standings, along with Perrone. Before long though, it was Brian Uriarte (Red Bull KTM Ajo) who found himself sitting pretty at the top as the final runs got underway.
However, there was drama for Quiles who fell at Turn 6 whilst in the closing moments, it was a fast fall for Uriarte at Turn 11 in what looked like a repeat of his teammate’s crash from the morning. Elsewhere though, it was Esteban who had timed it to perfection to take pole position, not just a first of his career but a first front row too. A fifth career front row went to Perrone in second, his first since he started from the same place at Motegi last year. It’s a first Malaysian front row since 2016 by Danish who seeks a first podium in Moto3. Veda Pratama (Honda Team Asia) took a career-best fourth on the grid, ahead of Morelli and Uriarte.
What about the top two in the Championship though? Quiles couldn’t recover from his crash despite getting back out and lines up 11th whereas yellow flags continuously scuppered David Almansa’s (LIQUI MOLY Dynavolt Intact GP) pole hopes. 14th is all the Championship leader could manage, making for big comebacks from the #28 and #22.
So, with heavyweight names starting outside the top ten and fresh faces taking the limelight up front, a classic awaits in Moto3 – action commences at 12:00 local time (UTC – 3) and for sure, Goiania won’t disappoint!
