Sergio Garcia claimed a last gasp pole position in Moto3 qualifying at the Gran Premi de la República Argentina, as the Spaniard set a new lap record of a 1:48.429 to beat second place Ayumu Sasaki – who has a Long Lap Penalty in Sunday’s race – by 0.171s.
Izan Guevara (Solunion GASGAS Aspar Team) will launch from P3 to make it two GASGAS Aspar bikes on the front row.
Q1
Ryusei Yamanaka (MT Helmets - MSI) headed through top, with close company from Stefano Nepa (Angeluss MTA Team), Riccardo Rossi (SIC58 Squadra Corse) and Australian rookie Joel Kelso (CIP Green Power), who denied fellow debutants Scott Ogden (VisionTrack Racing Team) and Indonesia front row starter Mario Aji (Honda Team Asia).
Taiyo Furusato (Honda Team Asia), who arrives in the World Championship as 2021 Idemitsu Asia Talent Cup champion – undefeated all season – and the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup, will start his first Moto3™ race from a couple of places behind teammate Aji. The Japanese rider was sidelined from Qatar and Lombok due to injury but was already making an impression in Q1.
Q2
Having made his way through Q1, Kelso made the extra 15 minutes of track time count in the early stages of Q2. The Australian sat top of the tree with a 1:48.940 after the first run out, a tenth faster than provisional second place Tatsuki Suzuki (Leopard Racing). World Championship leader Dennis Foggia (Leopard Racing) sat P3 halfway through the session, with 0.4s covering the top 13.
As ever, it all came down to a final push in the lightweight class, with everyone headin gout for one last flying lap. There were red sectors everywhere but Garcia made his final effort count to take pole by nearly two tenths, with Sasaki grabbing P2 on his last lap ahead of Guevara.
The Grid
Behind the GASGAS-Husqvarna-GASGAS trio, Rossi made good on his graduation from Q1 to leap up the timesheets and head the second row, with Kelso demoted from provisional pole for fifth but the Australian nevertheless enjoying his best qualifying yet. The same is true of Daniel Holgado (Red Bull KTM Ajo), with the reigning FIM JuniorGP™ Champion completing Row 2.
Xavier Artigas (CFMoto Racing PrüstelGP) leapt up to P7 on his last lap to front Row 3, and the Spaniard has Andrea Migno (Rivacold Snipers Team) and Suzuki for company. Diogo Moreira (MT Helmets – MSI) – another rookie inside the top 10 – continues to impress in P10, and the Brazilian has the experienced heads of points leader Foggia and Jaume Masia (Red Bull KTM Ajo), the only former Termas winner in the field, alongside him on the fourth row.
Tune into the Moto3 race on Sunday at 12:00 local time (GMT-3)!
Moto3 FRONT ROW
1 Sergio Garcia (Solunion GASGAS Aspar Team) - GASGAS - 1'48.429
2 Ayumu Sasaki (Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max) - Husqvarna - +0.171
3 Izan Guevara (Solunion GASGAS Aspar Team) - GASGAS - +0.195
