Moto3, qualifying: Almansa put World Championship leader Quiles in his place

In Indonesia, Maximo Quiles has it all in his own hands to be crowned Moto3 World Champion ahead of schedule. A win on Sunday would be enough – regardless of how his World Championship rivals David Almansa, Alvaro Carpe and Brian Uriarte fare. If he doesn’t finish first, Quiles would be reliant on their support.

In Japan, Almansa made it clear that he has no intention of handing the field over to Quiles without a fight. At Motegi, the Intact rider won by a razor-thin margin of 0.046 seconds over his Spanish compatriot.

Almansa was also the fastest in FP1 on Friday morning in Indonesia with a time of 1:37.515 mins. Behind him, Carpe and Quiles took second and third place respectively.

The first free practice session in the Moto3 class will be followed by qualifying on Friday. The aim here is to secure a direct place in Qualifying 2, which is only open to the fastest 14 riders. The remaining riders must take part in Q1 on Saturday, from which the top four then advance to Q2.

At the start of the qualifying session at 1.15 pm local time, the air temperature was 29 degrees Celsius. The track surface had heated up to 66 degrees. Quiles set the first notable fastest time of 1:38.334 mins. By way of comparison, the Moto3 lap record at the Mandalika International Street Circuit was set by Adrian Fernandez in 2025 with a time of 1:37.022 mins.

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Shortly afterwards, Almansa took the lead with a time of 1:38.215. Hakim Danish suffered a heavy crash at Turn 11. He initially remained seated, looking dazed, but was then able to get back on his feet and walk to the service road.

Carpe then set a new fastest time of 1:37.965 mins. Almansa countered immediately, clocking 1:37.924 mins. The top five after ten minutes: Almansa, Quiles, Carpe, Bertelle and Uriarte.

Almansa (1:37.882) reclaimed the lead and Quiles (1:37.941) set the second-fastest time. Carpe wasn’t about to let that stand and set another fastest time of 1:37.842. The Austrian Leo Rammerstorfer was in 16th place at this stage, one second off the pace.

After 15 minutes, Joel Kelso suffered a highside in Turn 10 – he was uninjured. At that point, the Australian was in 8th place. Shortly afterwards, his team-mate Eddie O’Shea crashed at the same spot. His crash was less spectacular, and he too was uninjured. The GRYD Racing crew then had plenty to do in the pits.

In the meantime, Intact rider Almansa had regained the lead with a time of 1:37.627.

The order with 15 minutes to go: Almansa, Carpe, Quiles, Uriarte, Bertelle, Danish, O’Gorman, Fernandez, Kelso and Pratama.

The final battle for the fastest time ensued. World Championship leader Quiles clocked 1:37.371 and Almansa 1:37.392 – the top two in the overall standings had already been locked in a close battle on Friday. Carpe followed in third place, just under two tenths of a second behind.

With five minutes to go, Almansa set a new fastest lap of 1:37.169. Rammerstorfer had slipped to 23rd place. The Leopard Honda riders Fernandez and Pini had moved up to 4th and 8th respectively. David Munoz found himself in 14th place, on the brink of elimination.

Quiles improved his time to 1:37.257 minutes, whilst Rammerstorfer went off into the gravel – but managed to stay on his bike. Quiles also had to demonstrate his off-road skills in the gravel afterwards. He too managed to keep his KTM on its wheels.