Celestino Vietti snatched pole position for the 2023 Moto2 Grand Prix of The Americas after a late flyer put the VR46 Rider Academy ahead at Circuit of The Americas.

A first pole position for Fantic Racing - the Italian manufacturer having renamed the ex-VR46 Racing Moto2 team over the winter - while Vietti didn’t seem a likely candidate for the top spot coming into Q2, he didn’t put a wheel wrong to deny Pedro Acosta.

A welcome confidence boost for the Italian, who forged a healthy championship lead during the opening phase of the 2022 Moto2 season before a slump in form ended his hopes, Vietti looked back to his best to stop the clock at 2m 09.452s.

It was enough to edge out title contender Acosta, the Ajo KTM rider losing out by just 0.020s but securing grid position well ahead of main rival Tony Arbolino, who could only manage eighth.

Filip Salac starts on the front row for the third time this season, the P3 pacesetter showing strongly again on the QJmotor Gresini, even if he couldn’t replicate the 2m 09.385s lap from P3 that was faster than the pole winning time.

Bo Bendsneyder provided the biggest surprise of the session, the Dutchman capitalising on having gained extra track time via his passage through Q1 to maintain the momentum through to fourth on the SAG Kalex.

It was a similar story for Alonso Lopez, who also survived Q1 before making the most of his second chance to place the SpeedUp fifth on the grid.

A favourite for pole position, Jake Dixon gets underway from the outside of the second row in sixth, though the GasGas Aspar rider might have finished higher had his flow now interrupted by Ai Ogura, the Japanese rider slowing with a technical issue while directly in front of the Briton.

Title contenders Aron Canet and Arbolino have worked to do from seventh and eighth, while Manuel Gonzalez and Jeremy Alcoba completed the top ten.

Elsewhere, there was disappointment for Barry Baltus, who looked to have the pace for a front row challenge on the Fieten Olie Kalex after Practice. However, the Belgian would encounter technical issues to leave him 11th.

Though the session saw fewer crashes than in Practice, Sam Lowes was one to come down, the Marc VDS rider’s session come to an abrupt end early on after a crash at Turn 9.

Meanwhile, Rory Skinner enjoyed arguably his strongest qualifying session of the season, despite his 25th place grid slot, the British rider only 0.7s off breaking into Q2 for the first time.

He will start ahead of the 2022 Moto3 World Champion Izan Guevara, the Spaniard set to start his first Moto2 race in 27th.

There will be only 29 starters for Sunday’s Moto2 race after Darryn Binder was ruled out with injury, the South African breaking a bone in his hand following a crash in P3.

Moto2 Qualifying Results - Grand Prix of The Americas | COTA