Diogo Moreira denied Jaume Masia a fourth consecutive pole position after holding on at the Mandalika Circuit to lead the way in qualifying ahead of the Indonesian Moto3.

The Brazilian, who along with Masia, has demonstrated the most convincing and consistent front running pace so far this weekend, got the better of his championship-leading rival with a 1m 39.085secs lap.

It represents the first time Moreira has started a race from the top spot this season and is his first Moto3 pole position since last year’s British Moto3 race at Silverstone.

In the context of the simmering Moto3 title battle, which sees just nine points splitting a top three comprising Masia, Ayumu Sasaki and Daniel Holgado, it is the former who takes an advantage into race day from second, while his closest rivals have ground to make up from only 11th and seventh respectively.

However, they are not the only riders within range of a title fight if results go their way in the coming races, one of which is David Alonso, who is well placed to challenge for his fourth win of the season from third on the grid.

Despite having to come through Q1, Collin Veijer made the most of his extra track time in Q2 to land fourth place on the grid, the Dutch rookie sharing the second row with Deniz Oncu and Taiyo Furusato.

Though not his worst qualifying of the season, Holgado still has work ahead to reclaim his erstwhile championship lead from seventh on the grid, the Red Bull KTM Tech 3 rider sharing row three with Matteo Bertelle and Stefano Nepa.

Elsewhere, VisionTrack Racing celebrated getting both of its riders through to Q2 for the first time after Scott Ogden made it into Q2 directly and Josh Whatley succeeded in progressing via Q1. However, the pair would bring up the rear in the pole-deciding session, with Ogden - who suffered a late high-side - and Whatley 17th and 18th respectively.