The Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto3 rider will start from the head of the grid for the second consecutive weekend, with Kaito Toba eighth for the Teruel Grand Prix.

Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto3 and Raul Fernandez took another pole position at the MotorLand Aragon circuit on Saturday, repeating their feat from last weekend. In Q2 for the Grand Prix of Teruel, the Spaniard claimed the top spot for the fifth time this season – meaning an eighth front row start from a possible 12. Teammate Kaito Toba will take off from Row 3, in eighth place. The Japanese made it out of Q1 with the third best time of that session.

In the last Free Practice of the weekend, Fernandez placed second and continued with the same good feeling that he had on Friday. He stopped the clock at 1:57.648, six tenths quicker than his personal best from yesterday and only 8 thousandths off the top spot. The Spaniard completed 10 laps of the Aragonese track, despite missing the last 15 minutes of FP3 due to a penalty incurred at the previous round. Toba took a noticeable step forward, improving his time from Friday by 8 tenths. In his last attempt of a total of 13 laps, the Japanese put in a 1:58.304 that earned him 17th position.

Fernandez remains the only rider in Moto3 to go straight into Q2 at every race so far this season. In today’s session he led the way from start to finish, on route to pole position number five of the campaign and of his sporting career. Toba had to participate in Q1 and, after achieving the third best time – 1:57.971 -, went into Qualifying 2. In that session, he would claim a third row start, with eighth place – 1:57.822.

The 19-lap Moto3 Grand Prix of Teruel gets underway tomorrow at 11:20 am local time.

Results – QP
1. Raul Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:57.199
2. Tony Arbolino (Honda) 1:57.430 +0.231
3. Celestino Vietti (KTM) 1:57.544 +0.345
4. Gabriel Rodrigo (Honda) 1:57.561 +0.362
5. Albert Arenas (KTM) 1:57.676 +0.477
8. Kaito Toba (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:57.822 +0.623

 

25 RAUL FERNANDEZ

“I’m happy to achieve our fifth pole position of the year. It’s incredible! I want to thank the team and my family, because they have given me a lot of calm. Without their help, I couldn’t have set such a good time – especially riding alone. Once again, my crew worked very well.
This is a special weekend for me, since yesterday was my birthday, so we will try to finish the occasion off tomorrow with a great result.”

27 KAITO TOBA
“The day did not start very well for us, but in the afternoon we managed to make the cut in Q1 and get into Q2. I felt good on the bike today and that is important. Tomorrow, in the race, we will try to join up with the leading group and be consistent. As always, I will do my best to round off this three-race run with a positive position.”