Eventful Moto3 qualifying: Pratama and Quiles ahead of local hero Kelso

After Phillip Island had shown itself at its best on Friday, the rain arrived on Saturday, bringing wet conditions for the MotoGP qualifying session. By the time the Moto3 qualifying session began, however, the track had dried out completely. Álvaro Carpe’s fastest time from Friday – 1:35.292 minutes – set the benchmark.

In Q1, Leopard rider Guido Pini set the fastest time. The Italian lapped the picturesque circuit on Australia’s south coast in 1:36.261 and progressed to Q2 alongside Casey O’Gorman, Eddie O’Shea and Veda Pratama. Leo Rammerstorfer finished seventh in Q1.

Local hero Joel Kelso on course for pole for a long time

At the start of Q2, local hero Joel Kelso set the pace. The Honda rider, sporting a special livery, clocked a lap time of 1:35.671. Rain began to fall again, making conditions more difficult. Unsurprisingly, two of the riders who had progressed from Q1 had established themselves at the front of the field: Guido Pini was second ahead of Veda Pratama.

The riders were not put off by the rain and continued to set a fast pace. Kelso improved his best time to 1:35.366 at the halfway point of Q2. World Champion Maximo Quiles was outside the top 10 at that stage, but signalled with a red sector that he was willing to continue taking risks. However, Quiles lost time as the lap progressed and ended up in seventh place.

Several riders pitted to pick up fresh tyres. IntactGP rider David Almansa slid into the gravel trap at Turn 4 but managed to get his KTM back on its wheels. Numerous riders braked too late at Turn 4 and were forced to take wide lines.

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Final push: Pratama and Quiles beat Kelso’s time

Kelso’s time was once again under threat with one minute to go. Joel Esteban missed out on the fastest time by 0.010 seconds and slotted into second place. Shortly afterwards, it was Maximo Quiles who was 0.046 seconds faster than Kelso and moved into first place. But the final word had not yet been spoken.

Veda Pratama stepped it up on his final attempt and clocked 1:35.299 minutes. The Honda rider secured his first pole position. A heated incident occurred at Turn 4 after Rico Salmela misjudged the corner and crashed into the rear of Kelso’s Honda. Salmela crashed out, whilst Kelso was able to continue and bring his Honda back to the parc fermé.

Pratama, Quiles and Kelso will start from the front row at the Australian Grand Prix. Joel Esteban, Eddie O’Shea and Adrian Fernandez make up the second row. The IntactGP riders David Almansa and David Muñoz are in 11th and 16th places respectively. Álvaro Carpe, who was fastest on Friday, could only manage twelfth place.

The Moto3 Grand Prix gets underway on Sunday at 2.00 am (CEST).