Moto3, qualifying: David Almansa 1st – Buchanan suffers a violent highside

Moto3 World Championship leader Maximo Quiles suffered a heavy crash during qualifying at Silverstone. Having broken his collarbone, he was forced to return home on Saturday and was unable to take part in the Grand Prix. The Spaniard used the break of just under three weeks to recover so that he could compete in his home Grand Prix in Aragon. On Thursday, Quiles was cleared to take part in FP1 on Friday morning – after which he underwent a further examination. He was then given the all-clear for the rest of the weekend.

In the German Intact team, 18-year-old Rookies Cup rider David Gonzalez is once again standing in for the injured David Munoz.

In FP1 at Aragon, Intact rider and Silverstone winner David Almansa set the fastest time of 1:58.708 minutes. Brian Uriarte and Cormach Buchanan finished in second and third place respectively. Quiles finished the first free practice session in 14th place. However, KTM Ajo rider Uriarte also had to cope with a heavy crash.

FP1 is followed on Friday by timed practice in the Moto3 class. The aim here is to go straight through to Qualifying 2, which only the fastest 14 riders manage to do. The remaining riders must take part in Q1 on Saturday, from which the top four then progress to Q2.

At the start of the timed practice session, it was a pleasant 24 degrees Celsius. The riders took to the track on time at 1.15 pm. David Almansa set the first notable fastest time of 1:58.459 mins. By way of comparison, the Moto3 lap record at Aragon was set by Jose Antonio Rueda in 2025 with a time of 1:56.361 mins.

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29.08.2026 - 08:35

Shortly afterwards, Almansa improved his best time to 1:57.874 mins. Perrone moved into second place with a time of 1:57.927 mins.

Almansa lowered his best time once again a lap later to 1:57.845. The top five after ten minutes: Almansa, Perrone, Salmela, O’Gorman and Quiles.

Shortly afterwards, World Championship leader Quiles surged forward into fifth place. Rico Salmela worked his way up to third place.

After 13 minutes, Buchanan suffered a violent highside in Turn 17. He was catapulted into the air and crashed heavily onto the tarmac. However, he was able to get back on his feet straight away. Buchanan wanted to carry on, but as the engine on his KTM had cut out, he had to pull off the track. The marshals helped him push his bike onto the service road. One thing is clear: Buchanan was incredibly lucky to have emerged from the crash unscathed.

Three minutes later, Ryusei Yamanaka crashed at Turn 12. He was able to continue straight away, but as his bike was badly damaged, he headed straight for the pits.

The order at the halfway point of the session: Almansa, Perrone, Salmela, O’Gorman and Quiles. David Gonzalez was eleventh at that stage, with the Austrian Leo Rammerstorfer in 21st.

Things got hectic again in the final minutes of the 35-minute session. Almansa initially set a new fastest time of 1:57.473 minutes. The Spaniard put in a brilliant performance on Friday at Aragon. Guido Pini (Leopard Honda) moved up to eighth place. On his next fast lap, however, Almansa was held up by traffic at Turn 7, which really annoyed him.

As is always the case in the Moto3 class, the riders were trying to position themselves behind a fast rival to take advantage of the slipstream. This resulted in a lot of traffic on the track.

Then Alvaro Carpe surged forward into third place. Shortly afterwards, Adrian Fernandez snatched third place. At the very last moment, Salmela clocked the second-fastest time.

No one else came close to Almansa’s time.