Spanish Red Bull KTM Ajo rider will take off from third at Spanish GP. Zulfahmi Khairuddin and Arthur Sissis will start from fourth and fifth rows, respectively.

The thousands of fans who flocked to Jerez this morning enjoyed an entertaining Moto3 qualifying session which saw Luis Salom take a place on the front row of the grid. The Spaniard will start from third for the third time this year. His teammates on the Red Bull KTM Ajo team, Zulfahmi Khairuddin and Arthur Sissis, will take off from eleventh and fourteenth place, respectively.

The high track temperatures that hit a maximum of 45ºC again placed huge demands on the Moto3 riders. Luis Salom, joint-leader of the class, had a fastest lap of 1’47.327, putting him on the first line of attack for the Spanish GP and giving him his best starting position ever at the event. That was also the case for Zulfahmi Khairuddin, whose best lap of 1’48.262 took him to eleventh. Arthur Sissis, fourteenth, took his best time of the weekend —1’48.481— in the session.

The morning session had previously allowed the trio to place fourth (1’47.450, Salom), eighth (1’47.740, Zulfahmi Khairuddin) and seventeenth (1’48.554, Sissis) in the combined standings, showing the pace under different conditions.

Results (Qualifying practice)
1. Alex Rins (KTM) 1:46.660
2. Maverick Viñales (KTM) 1:47.145 +0.485
3. Luis Salom (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:47.327 +0.667
4. Brad Binder (Suter Honda) 1:47.517 +0.857
5. Jack Miller (FTR Honda) 1:47.613 +0.953
11. Zulfahmi Khairuddin (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:48.262 +1.602
14. Arthur Sissis (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:48.481 +1.821

Luis Salom >> Audio
“We go into the race tomorrow in a good situation. In the end, all the work we’ve been doing so far has been good. We know we have to keep improving a little with the front of the bike, but the team is working very well. Tomorrow the issues will be resolved. The race will be very difficult, but I think we’ll be up there.”

Arthur Sissis >> Audio
“I’m a little sad about the result of the qualifying session, because here we went very well in preseason testing and I have not yet been able to match the times from then. This morning I felt good on the bike thanks to the low track temperature. But this afternoon, when the temperature had risen, I lost a lot of grip and struggled to find a good setup. In the end, I set a time similar to that of this morning.”

Zulfahmi Khairuddin >> Audio (English) // Audio (Malaysian)
“I’m a little disappointed with today’s qualifying. In the practice sessions I felt very comfortable, both yesterday and today, but this afternoon I could not find the best feeling that I’ve had with the bike. We had a small problem with the front end and, besides that, I got caught in a group that was not the right one to follow. I was very confident before the qualifying session, but even if it did not go very well, I’m still looking forward to the race tomorrow. I think I can do well.”

*Audio solely for radio use