Rookie outfits MT Helmets -MSI and Angeluss MTA stole the show in Moto3 as Ryusei Yamanaka topped Valencia’s FP3 on Saturday.
Ivan Ortola and Diogo Moreira completed the top three with the former having overcome early technical gremlins, the trio separated by just a tenth from the Japanese rider’s 1’38.482 best.
A cool start to Saturday saw the lightweight class on track in just 12℃ temperatures as the first morning practice fired up. VisionTrack’s Scott Ogden immediately out on track as he looked to regain ground following a Friday plagued by technical problems. Ortola finding his own issues as the session began as BOE’s David Muñoz took charge of the times.
The rookie picked up speed as the session bedded in as he looked to protect his automatic Q2 position, Muñoz initially sitting as the gateway to promotion thanks to his 1’39.935 Friday effort before he bettered, by a tenth, with his third lap of the second day.
Sterilgarda Husqvarna’s Ayumu Sasaki sat second in the session after ten minutes on track. CIP Green Power’s Kaito Toba, Sic58’s Riccardo Rossi and GasGas Aspar’s Sergio Garcia completing the top five with times still down on the overall targets.
Izan Guevara hit the top on the second Aspar machine at the halfway stage with 1’39.318 the outright target, Yamanaka the next rider to improve on his day one efforts, in eighth, before the timing screens began to ignite.
The Moto3 Champion continued to improve, now on the bubble of the 1’39 marker, followed by Deniz Öncü, Moreira, Yamanaka and Rossi before Carlos Tatay slotted the CFMoto into fourth. The times shuffling again as John McPhee found himself narrowly adrift of the promotion zone, in 15th. The top 14 covered by six tenths of a second with the Scot a further two tenths behind.
Foggia fired up as the final ten minutes prepared. The Leopard rider with his sights set on the season’s runner-up position on his final weekend in Moto3, alongside Garcia and Sasaki.
Ortola proved he had the MTA back in working order as he set the late 1’38.537 pace before Yamanaka immediately bettered by a tenth. Guevara the only other rider under the 1’39 barrier as the closing five minutes got underway before team-mate Garcia joined him, in fourth.
Moreira, Foggia and McPhee were the next to improve, to third, fourth and ninth respectively, as Sasaki crashed out and dropped outside of contention. Wildcard David Salvador continuing to impress on the second MTA KTM as he consolidated tenth ahead of Tatay, Öncü, Rossi and a late improving Joel Kelso.
The final efforts registered with Daniel Holgado pushing the Red Bull KTM into 11th - and Kelso out of contention - as his teammate crashed out alongside Toba. The pair coming to blows trackside after the turn 11 collision with both facing the Q1 fight.
