Jose Antonio Rueda is 14th in qualifying, with Xabi Zurutuza 22nd.

The Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto3 riders undertook qualifying on Saturday at Mobility Resort Motegi. After a wet practice, qualifying was held in dry conditions, although with the constant threat of rain. Jose Antonio Rueda finished fourteenth and will start the race from the fifth row, whilst Xabi Zurutuza was unable to get through Q1 and will take off from 22nd.

With Practice 2 being held in wet conditions, the Red Bull KTM Ajo duo did not have the chance to improve their times from Practice 1. Both used the opportunity to continue gaining experience and fine-tune their setup in view of a possible wet qualifying session. Rueda improved his times steadily and, without coming in for a pit stop, completed 14 laps, achieving the seventh best time thanks to his 2:06.862. He was eleventh overall. Zurutuza showed that he feels very comfortable in such conditions, quickly occupying the top positions and keeping up a good pace until taking fifth position thanks to his 2:06.759. He was 21st on the combined timesheets.

Zurutuza had to go into Q1, in which he rode with slicks, waiting on the few drops of rain that had begun to fall during the qualifying session. He started with a good pace and tried to get among the Top 4, but in the final laps he was unable to catch up with the top riders and finished in eighth place. This means that he will start the race from 22nd position. In Q2, the flag for rain went up as soon as the session got underway. Rueda focused on riding alone in the final minutes, when he was in the Top 10. In the closing moments, the Red Bull KTM Ajo rider tried to improve his times in complicated conditions, although he could not put together a good lap. Finally, Rueda set the 14th best time of 1:56.420.

The Moto3 race at the Japanese Grand Prix will start at 11:00 am local time on Sunday

Results Qualifying
1. Ivan Ortola (KTM) 1:54.761
2. Collin Veijer (Husqvarna) 1:55.117 +0.356
3. David Alonso (CFMOTO) 1:55.170 +0.409
4. Angel Piqueras (Honda) 1:55.485 +0.724
5. Ryusei Yamanaka (KTM) 1:55.494 +0.733
14. Jose Antonio Rueda (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:56.420 +1.659
22. Xabi Zurutuza (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:57.295 +1.279 *Q1 Time

#99 JOSE ANTONIO RUEDA
“Practice 2 this morning allowed me to continue improving my feeling in the wet, which was one of the things we were having the most trouble with, so we made good use of the session. In qualifying we were very aware of the rain and we didn’t know if it was going to rain more or not, so I took advantage of this to continue to better understand the conditions -although I wasn’t able to do a good hot lap. Today we didn’t have the best pace and we will start at the back, so the start will be important if I am able to reach the front group.”

#85 XABI ZURUTUZA
“We’ve finished the second day in Japan. The morning went well and we had a very good feeling in the wet. However, in Q1, in dry conditions although with some drops of rain, the feeling wasn’t good. We have to continue improving for tomorrow to gain more feeling and improve the result on Sunday.”