Moto3: First Pole for Rueda in Portugal!

From a hospital check up to pole position in a matter of hours. Jose Antonio Rueda (Red Bull KTM Ajo) put it all on the line today in the Algarve to take his first career pole position in the Moto3 class.

Joel Kelso (BOE Motorsports) starts from the middle of the front row tomorrow in 2nd and David Alonso (CFMOTO Aspar Team) rounds off the front row in 3rd.

^{AS IT HAPPENED}

Qualifying 1

Some notable names as we headed into the Q1 session in Portimão. Filippo Farioli (SIC58 Squadra Corse),  Ryusei Yamanaka (MT Helmets MSI) and Taiyo Furusato (Honda Team Asia) would be very keen to get into Q2 this afternoon.

Luca Lunetta (SIC58 Squadra Corse) at turn 5 went up the inside of Yamanaka and into a huge high side with the bike landing on top of the rider as the rest of the riders scattered left and right to avoid a collision. Rider thankfully ok after that one.

Through the first time attacks it was Yamanaka at the top with a 1:47.979 followed by Nicola Carraro (LEVELUP – MTA), Farioli and rookie Angel Piqueras ( Leopard Racing).

Back into the pits at the end of the first run, and with 4mins left of the session everything was still to play for to get through to Q2. Tatsuki Suzuki ( Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP) continued to circle round on his Honda and managed to get up to 5th in the timings with just a minute remaining of the session.

Piqueras and Carraro touched as the riders all came round the final corner to try and cross the line before the chequered flag. The majority of the field failed to beat the flag apart from Vicente Perez (Red Bull KTM Ajo).

Perez delighted after timing his final run to perfection and managed to bump Piqueras out of the top 4.

The top 4 heading through to Q2 were Yamanaka, Carraro, Farioli and Perez.

Qualifying 2

All of the riders in Q2 were keen to get out of the pits from the off in this 15 minute session. After the first time attacks Alonso was at the top of the timings but only just ahead of Rueda who was a tenth of a second shy from Alonso in 2nd.

Last seasons race winner Daniel Holgado (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) punched into the 1:46s for the first time this weekend only to be topped by Rueda and Alonso as they crossed the line after their 2nd flying laps.

The first attack at pole position sorted with several minutes left of the session the riders headed into the pits for some final changes. On provisional pole at this stage was Rueda with Alonso 2nd and Holgado 3rd rounding off the front row.

Kelso straight out of the pits and on fire getting a massive toe from his teammate blasting down the straight to start his flying lap into turn 1. Kelso up half a second in sector 1 to carry through the rest of the lap. Into the rollercoaster turn 15 Kelso blasted over the line and into provisional pole with a mighty 1:46.438. Rueda and the rest behind had a lot of work to do here to beat Kelso.

As the 2 Ajo KTM’s squabbled with each other, Alonso was pushing hard as Adrian Fernandez (Leopard Racing) crashed out at turn 8. Fernandez was back up to his feet as Alonso crossed the line but only managed to get up to 2nd in the timings.

The seconds ticked down and as the chequered flag waved everyone was fighting hard on their last chance at grabbing pole position. As Alonso finished just shy of Kelso by less than a tenth of a second Jose Antonio Rueda pulled out all of the stops to take his first Grand Prix pole position.

A fantastic lap from Rueda and after finishing in 4th place in the race last season, Rueda will be confident of at least a podium tomorrow.

Qualifying Classification

Official Starting Grid