Moto3 / Australian GP 2023: starting grid (top 18 of Q2)
POS. | PILOT | MOTORCYCLE | TIME/GAP |
1 | Ayumu Sasaki | Husqvanra | 1:36.539 |
2 | Joel Kelso | CFMoto | +0.136 |
3 | Stefano Nepa | CFMoto | +0.216 |
4 | Diogo Moreira | GasGas | +0.321 |
5 | Matteo Bertelle | Honda | +0.439 |
6 | Collin Veijer | Husqvarna | +0.469 |
7 | Deniz Öncü | KTM | +0.491 |
8 | David Alonso | KTM | +0.607 |
9 | Adrian Fernandez | Honda | +0.747 |
10 | Vicente Perez | KTM | +0.754 |
11 | Daniel Holgado | KTM | +0.764 |
12 | Ivan Ortola | Honda | +0.839 |
13 | Jaume Masia | KTM | +0.860 |
14 | Kaito Toba | Honda | +0.926 |
15 | David Munoz | KTM | +0.974 |
16 | Filippo Farioli | KTM | +0.980 |
17 | Ryusei Yamanaka | GasGas | +1,122 |
18 | Riccardo Rossi | Honda | +1,463 |
Sasaki returns to pole
Protagonist qualifications for Ayumu Sasaki, who for the first time since the German GP returned to conquer pole position on the Australian circuit of Phillip Island, thus obtaining his fifth start of the season in front of everyone on the grid. First row completed by Joel Kelso and from an excellent one Stefano Nepa, which confirms a good day for the Italian drivers, as also demonstrated by Matteo Bertelle’s 5th place. A day to forget, however, for the world championship leader Jaume Masiawho will start from 13th position.
Q1: Holgado stands out, Farioli excellent
Qualification that begins with the certainty of well four pilots which they will have to pay penalty in view of the match: the one who pays the biggest penalty is Xavier Artigas, who will start from the back with two long lap penalties for impeding. The Race Direction’s decision was slightly less heavy for Kaito Toba and Joshua Whatley, who were also forced to start from the most remote positions on the grid but with one less long lap penalty than Artigas. The list of those penalized concludes with David Muñoz who, regardless of the starting position, will have to make two long laps, in this case for an overtaking considered dangerous to the detriment of Nicola Carraro (who replaces Romano Fenati) during FP2. Q1, however, rewards Daniel Holgadoauthor of the best time in 1:37.538. Together with him, they also pass to Q2 Yamanaka and an excellent one Filippo Farioliwith Ortola which closes the top-4.
Q2: Kelso comes close to the feat
In the decisive session for the pole position he imposed himself Ayumu Sasakiwhich with the time of 1:36.539 conquer the fifth start of the season. The Japanese, who in the first half of the session had managed to gain almost half a second from his pursuers, however risked losing the top position to Joel Kelso, who did not match the Husqvarna rider by 136 thousandths. Still great satisfaction for the Italian pilots, and especially for Stefano Nepawhich with the 3rd place moves to the front row, while Bertelle closes the top-5. However, the performance of the leader of the general classification was disappointing Jaume Masià, only 13th and behind Holgadoalso out of the top-10 and in 11th position. Unlike MotoGP, whose long race was brought forward today instead of the Sprint, which will instead take place tomorrow, the Moto3 program remains unchanged. The qualifications have in fact determined the starting grid for the race, scheduled for tomorrow live at 02:00 on Sky Sports MotoGP or deferred on TV8 at 11.15am. All this except for a worsening of the weather conditions, which would make the race complex.
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