Gaviota Aspar’s Izan Guevara continued his impressive Qatar showing on Saturday by claiming the inaugural Moto3 pole position of 2022.
The GasGas rider left it to the dying seconds to deny session leader Ayumu Sasaki the celebrations with a 2’04.811 lap after the Sterilgarda Max rider fought through from Q1 to secure his place on the front row. Red Bull KTM’s Jaume Masia completed the Parc Fermé trio on his final effort, two-tenths adrift.
Moto3 qualifying got underway with Sasaki forced to face the Q1 fight having set his previous best lap of the weekend under yellow flags. The Husqvarna rider was joined by Sic58’s Lorenzo Fellon and Snipers man Alberto Surra alongside VisionTrack Honda’s new recruits Scott Ogden and Josh Whatley in the 15-rider battle.
KTM rookie Daniel Holgado continued to push despite a lingering preseason injury which saw the youngster require crutches for paddock life off the bike, leading the initial times with Tech3’s Adrian Fernandez following half a second behind.
The first hot laps saw Sasaki hit the front on 2’05 pace with Avintia’s Matteo Bertelle eight-tenths off in second. Stefano Nepa sat third with Holgado fourth and Ogden just adrift of promotion on his third lap of the afternoon and five riders yet to set a time.
MTA rookie Ivan Ortola was the next to strike as he made his way to second, Sasaki still the only rider inside the 2’05 bracket with three minutes left to run.
A personal best on lap five saw Ogden back to fifth with a 2’06.394 just 0.003s adrift of the final promotion place on his first weekend in the world championship as Whatley headed back to the garage after four laps.
With the chequered flag failing to find much improvement, Surra settled for seventh as Fellon’s only registered time claimed ninth, Holgado’s final flourish securing third as he demoted the field and pushed Nepa out of Q2.
The big guns came out for the lightweight class Q2 as dust filled the desert air making it look like dusk was setting early. Guevara was the first to set a flying lap, the Aspar rider’s 2’06.453 trailed by the CIP pairing of Kaito Toba and Joel Kelso before the times tumbled. Sasaki coming out fighting with the first 2’04.896 of the day and the best time of the weekend so far, 0.024s faster than Guevara’s Friday target.
Andrea Migno sat second, half a second back with the Leopard duo of Denis Foggia and Tatsuki Suzuki close behind. Sergio Garcia and Carlos Tatay rounded out the top six with Ryusei Yamanaka, Toba, John McPhee and Guevara in the top ten.
Foggia improved with his third effort of the 15-minute session on his way to second with a 2’05.189 as the track fell silent, the tension building in the wait for the final shootout.
McPhee was the first out of pitlane as the clock counted down, five riders slotting in behind the Husqvarna as the experienced Scot showed the way. The remainder of the pack waiting for the small group to make its way back round the 5.4km layout with multiple disruptions to the hot laps already underway.
McPhee’s first 2’05.549 effort initially found fifth with Yamanaka just 0.013s ahead, before the final fliers began to register. Unable to improve next time around, he completed the session seventh overall with just Masia and Guevara able to better. The KTM rider claimed third with Gaviota Aspar collecting pole as last season’s impressive rookie emulated his Friday performance with the fastest lap of the weekend, a 2’04.811, to deny Sasaki the spoils.
