David Munoz will start a Moto3 World Championship race from pole position for the first time in his young career as he led a mixed up grid for Sunday's Moto3 Dutch TT at Assen.

His landmark performance was one of several interesting stories to emerge from qualifying, the biggest being Moto3 Championship leader Daniel Holgado's failure to complete a clean lap in Q1 to leave himself 27th and last.

Putting him on the back foot for Sunday's race, Holgado - who leads Jaume Masia by 41 points overall - can at least console himself with the fact he is one of four riders inside the overall top eight starting 19th or lower.

Indeed, with many of the fancied runners struggling around the Dutch venue, it allowed some of the lesser known names to take their moment in the spotlight.

It was Munoz that grasped the opportunity though, the BOE Motorsports rider refusing to let a tight pass on Masia coming up to the Geert Timmer chicane interrupt him as he swept to the fastest time by more than +0.2s

Marking the first pole position of his Moto3 career, it is the second time Munoz has qualified on the front row this season. However, he was unable to take that slot in Jerez after a crash shortly after setting his fast time forced him to withdraw from the main race.

Joining Munoz in an unusual front row will be Joel Kelso, who landed a fine second place on the PruestelGP CFMoto bike, while Riccardo Rossi on the SIC58 Squadra Corse ensured Honda was represented at the head of the field in third.

Of those in contention for this year's Moto3 title, Ayumu Sasaki was the best of the top runners in fourth place on the Husqvarna IntactGP, with Deniz Oncu - who came through Q1 - taking his KTM Ajo all the way to fifth.

Stefano Nepa completed the second row, ahead of Kaito Toba and a disappointed Masia, the Spaniard having come into qualifying as the firm favourite after topping P1, P2 and P3. However, after fluffing the first run of his final time attack, he then crashed on his second attempt, leaving him eighth.

Colin Veijer starts ninth for his first home Dutch Moto3 outing, with Romano Fenati completing the top ten.

Scott Ogden, meanwhile, couldn't replicate his top six form in P3 but will start from a solid 13th on the grid.

>>> 2023 Moto3 World Championship standings <<<

On a disastrous day for the runaway Moto3 Championship leader, Holgado had endured a tough error-strewn weekend to this point so as to explain his presence in Q1 but hit a new low when a last lap mistake saw him consigned to 27th and last on the grid.

However, he remained one of the big favourites to secure one of the four available Q2 spots in Q1, even if he had tough competition from many of his main rivals with five of the top eight riders in the overall standings forced into the opening session.

In the end only one of those riders - German Moto3 winner Oncu - would make it through, the others tripping one another up as they fought for a good tow.

Among them was Holgado, who ran wide enough on the exit of Ramshoek to have his lap cancelled, an inevitability he recognised enough to ease up coming through the Geert Timmer chicane, in turn baulking Ryusei Yamanaka and Diogo Moreira right behind, consigning them to 25th and 22nd respectively.

A double race winner this year, Ivan Ortola was on course to go through but technical issues would prevent him from getting out for a second time attack, dropping him to 20th, just behind CFMoto's Xavier Artigas in 19th.

Moto3 Dutch TT Assen | Qualifying Results