Joel Esteban secured pole position for Moto3 World Championship qualifying on Saturday at the Autodromo Internacional de Goiania in Brazil – Ayrton Senna. Riding a step-up MTA KTM on Pirelli control tires, Esteban topped the 25-rider field with a lap time of 1:26.241.
Valentin Perrone was best on the remaining Red Bull KTM Tech3 machine with a 1:26.447, and Hakim Denmark took the third and final spot on the front row with a 1:26.448 on the AEON Credit MT Helmets MSI KTM.
Row two qualifiers included Honda Team Asia’s Veda Pratama (1:26.506), CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team’s Marco Morelli (1:26.560) and Red Bull KTM’s Ajo Brian Uriart (1:26.835).
More from the MotoGP press release:
Esteban cruised to his career-first pole in a stunning Moto3 qualifier. A hotly contested pole battle held plenty of shocks and surprises as the favorites were scattered across the grid.
A dramatic Moto3 qualifying session took us off into the sunset but it didn’t disappoint. His career-first pole was captured by Joel Esteban (LEVELUP-MTA), joined by Valentin Perrone (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) and Hakim Danish (AEON Credit – MT Helmets – MSI), who took his career-first front row in Goiania, Malaysia.
After Alvaro Carpe (Red Bull KTM Ajo), Adrian Fernandez (Tiger Racing), Ryusei Yamanaka (AEON Credit – MT Helmets – MSI) and Zen Mitani (Honda Team Asia) graduated from Q1, it was time to shoot for pole position. However, a red-flag for Cormac Buchanan (CODE Motorsports) at turn 4 and a front-end crash for the Dane after turn 6. Both were fine and after a brief stop the action resumed quickly. Lap times are down to 1’26 as the CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar team duo of Marco Morelli and Maximo Quiles are both enjoying Perron at the top of the standings. Not long after, Brian Uriarte (Red Bull KTM Ajo) found himself sitting pretty on top as the final run began.
However, there was drama for Quills, who fell in lap 6. In the final moments, it was a quick fall for Uriart in lap 11 in what appeared to be a repeat of his team-mate’s crash from the morning. Elsewhere, it was Esteban who timed it to perfection to grab not only his first but also his first front row of his career. His fifth career front row went to Perrone in second. He is the first Malaysian front-rower since 2016 in Denmark to claim his first podium in Moto3. Veda Pratama (Honda Team Asia) took a career-best fourth on the grid ahead of Morelli and Uriarte.
What about the two that were in the championship? Quiles went back and lined up 11, but he could not recover from the accidentTh Yellow flags consistently dented David Almansa’s (LIQUI MOLY Dynavolt Inact GP) pole hope. 14Th It was all the championship leader could manage, making big comebacks from the #28 and #22.
So, with heavyweight names starting outside the top ten and fresh faces at the front, a classic awaits in Moto3 – action starts at 12:00 local time (UTC – 3), and for sure, Goiania will not disappoint!
Full results from Moto3 qualifying in Goiania!
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, CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team's Marco Morelli (1:26.560) and Red Bull KTM Ajo's Brian Uriarte (1:26.835). More from a press release issued by MotoGP: Esteban flies to career-first pole in dramatic Moto3 qualifying. A hotly-contested battle for pole brought with it plenty of shocks and surprises as favourites are left scattered across the grid. A dramatic Moto3 qualifying session took us into the sunset but it){kind=link}