Joel Kelso earned pole position during Moto3 World Championship qualifying Saturday at Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, in Portugal. Riding his LevelUp MTA KTM on Pirelli control tires, Kelso topped the 25-rider field with a lap time of 1:46.764.
Scott Ogden was the best of the rest with a 1:46.833 on his CIP Green Power KTM, and Angel Piqueras claimed the third and final spot on the front row with a 1:46.927 on his FRINSA – MT Helmets – MSI KTM.
Row-two qualifiers included CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team’s Maximo Quiles, (1:47.044) Liqui Moly Dynavolt IntactGP’s Guido Pini (1:47.061) and Red Bull KTM Tech3’s Joel Esteban (1:47.067).
QualifyingResults moto3
More, from a press release issued by Dorna:
Kelso blasts to Portimao pole in Moto3. In ideal conditions, the #66 secured a fine pole to lead the charge into Sunday.
A fine performance by Australian Joel Kelso (LEVELUP-MTA) saw him take a ninth front row of 2025 and a second pole in the last three Grands Prix. He denied Scott Ogden (CIP Green Power) who put in a late charge to start second whereas Angel Piqueras (FRINSA – MT Helmets – MSI) rounds out the front row. It was a closely fought session, with 16 riders covered by less than a second.
Joel Esteban (Red Bull KTM Tech 3), Stefano Nepa (SIC58 Squadra Corse), Guido Pini (LIQUI MOLY Dynavolt Intact GP) and Marco Morelli (GRYD – MLav Racing) made their way through into Q2 from the first session. Straight down to pace, Joel Kelso (LEVELUP-MTA) was the rider who set the initial fastest time but it was still some way off the fastest time of the weekend thus far, set by David Almansa (Leopard Racing) on Friday afternoon. Soon though, it was Quiles who set the fastest lap of the weekend on his final flying lap of Run 1, making for an intense final stint of action.
In the final time attack, there were plenty of red sectors coming in; Pini had managed to get himself onto the provisional front row along with Angel Piqueras (FRINSA – MT Helmets – MSI). However, it was all about to change as a late lap from Kelso saw him fly into pole with a 1’46.764. He demoted Ogden’s very own late lap by just 0.069s, with the Australian leading the Brit on the grid whilst Piqueras was a solid third and is one of the favourites on Sunday.
Quiles crashed late on at Turn 13 on what would have been his fastest lap but still heads up the second row ahead of Pini and Esteban, with the latter bagging his first top six on the grid. Notable performances elsewhere include Casey O’Gorman (LIQUI MOLY Dynavolt Intact GP) in seventh ahead of top Honda Adrian Fernandez (Leopard Racing) whilst the most-recent Moto3 winner, Taiyo Furusato (Honda Team Asia) took P11.