The Spanish Red Bull KTM Ajo rider will start from third on the grid at Silverstone. Arthur Sissis and Zulfahmi Khairuddin will start from the sixth and seventh rows, respectively.

Luis Salom completed a superb qualifying session at the British Grand Prix. Despite being injured, the current Moto3 Championship leader claimed a third place start for the race tomorrow after missing a front row starting position at both Indianapolis and Brno. Arthur Sissis and Zulfahmi Khairuddin both improved their times in every session to claim start positions of eighteenth and twentieth, respectively.

The morning saw all the Red Bull KTM Ajo riders lower their times from yesterday, even with asphalt temperatures at 15 °C (59°F). Salom, once again amongst the frontrunners, set a stunning pace on his last run-out; all of his final laps were under the 2:15 mark. Zulfahmi Khairuddin made another significant step forward by improving his times by over a second from yesterday’s pace with a 2:16.059 to place him thirteen on the morning timesheet, while Arthur Sissis went fifteenth fastest in the morning with a 2:16.381.

Luis Salom started very strong in qualifying, bettering his times from the day before and leading for most of the session. For his final trip out of the box, he set a 2:13.948, the third fastest in the session. In the last moments of the heat, heavy traffic impeded the progress of Arthur Sissis, who managed a 2:15.644 to put him on the sixth row, while Zulfahmi Khairuddin, still improving on his times, set a 2:15.707 to put him on the seventh row.

Tomorrow’s race will start at 14.30h —local time—. Last year’s race in Great Britain saw Salom take second on the podium and both Arthur Sissis and Zulfahmi Khairuddin among the top ten.

Results (Qualifying practice)
1. Maverick Viñales (KTM) 2:13.507
2. Alex Rins (KTM) 2:13.699   +0.192
3. Luis Salom (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 2:13.948   +0.441
4. Jack Miller (FTR Honda) 2:14.523   +1.016
5. Jonas Folger (Kalex KTM) 2:14.531   +1.024
18. Arthur Sissis (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 2:15.644   +2.137
20. Zulfahmi Khairuddin (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 2:15.707   +2.200

Luis Salom >> Audio
“It was a good session. If we hadn’t encountered as much traffic, we would have been able to go faster, because my fast lap was ahead of the other riders and usually the best times happen like that. I think I have to stay with the pace we’ve achieved and so for tomorrow we can be fighting in the lead group. It was a shame because I would have liked to improve my lap and do a perfect lap, but still, moving up from tenth at Indianapolis and fifth at Brno to the first row is quite positive and good. We can be happy.”

Arthur Sissis >> Audio
“At the beginning of the session I felt pretty good riding alone. When I tried to keep pace with Luis [Salom], we were three or four riders, but when I reached the last corner there were fifteen riders all waiting for a wheel to follow. They braked earlier than me in many corners and were slow places you shouldn’t be slow and I couldn’t get a clean lap with them, so I couldn’t manage to get a good time. The qualifying was been pretty bad, but it should go well tomorrow, because I feel good on the bike. I’ll try to overtake many riders as possible in the opening laps.”

Zulfahmi Khairuddin >> Audio (English) // Audio (Bahasa)
“In the last free practice we went well and in the qualifying session I felt good on the bike. However, I couldn’t get a full lap with a clean track; there was always a lot of traffic. I’m pretty disappointed, because there were always many riders waiting in the middle of the track for an opening to try to make a quick lap. Anyway, I have a lot of confidence for the race tomorrow.”

*Audio solely for radio use