Deniz Oncu maintained his spot at the head of the timesheets even as rivals made sizeable improvements in the third and final Practice session for the Spanish Moto3 at Jerez.

The Turkish rider - who is still chasing his first win in the quarter-litre series - came into qualifying as the form man after topping P1, P2 and P3.

It was a comfortable margin he'd maintain over the opposition into Q2, the Red Bull KTM Ajo rider not even needing the influence of a tow to stop the clock at 1m 45.668secs.

His efforts were enough to deny the impressive Ivan Ortola, who overturned a huge deficit from P3 - one that left him down in 22nd and needing come through Q1 - to haul his Angeluss MTA Team KTM to second and put him in a good position to fight for a second successive victory.

David Munoz completes the front row for the first time in his career, though the BOE Motorsports rider could be a doubt for the race after suffering a nasty crash in the final seconds of the session.

Getting it wrong on the outside kerb as he braked for the final Jorge Lorenzo corner, he was forced to bail off the bike before it speared into the barriers, a very ginger Munoz unable to attend the top three parc fermé celebrations as a result.

Like Ortola, Moto3 veteran Romano Fenati made the most of Q1 to not only qualify through but go on to place his Rivacold Snipers bike fourth on the grid as the best placed Honda, ahead of title contender Jaume Masia on the Leopard machine.

Ryusei Yamanaka upheld GasGas honours in sixth place, heading off championship leader Daniel Holgado in seventh and Ayumu Sasaki in eighth.

Of the British contenders, Scott Ogden made it to Q2 automatically and made it count with a solid 11th on the grid, while VisionTrack Racing team-mate Joshua Whatley starts 27th of 29.

CLICK HERE to view 2023 Spanish Moto3 Practice, Qualifying and Race Results from Jerez

Spanish Moto3 | Qualifying Results

Jerez | Conditions - Dry, Hot