Jose Antonio Rueda will start from the sixth row of the grid, with Alvaro Carpe on the seventh row and Xabi Zurutuza from the eighth.

The second day of the Solidarity Grand Prix of Barcelona saw Jose Antonio Rueda become the Red Bull KTM Ajo rider to make it through to Q2, although a yellow flag on his last lap prevented him from improving his time and he will start the race in 17th place. Xabi Zurutuza and Alvaro Carpe will start from 24th and 19th, respectively.

Practice 2 featured low temperatures that have been a constant in Barcelona, meaning the riders were not able to improve their times from Practice 1. Rueda continued to feel good, predominantly riding alone to work on his race pace. The Red Bull KTM Ajo rider set a time of 1:47.039 on his penultimate lap, which put him in tenth place. Zurutuza tried to secure a direct place in Q2 in his final weekend with Red Bull KTM Ajo, and whilst he made a leap forward in terms of his feeling, in the end he could not put together a good lap that would place him in the Top14. With a time of 1:48.457 he was 24th. Carpe focused on fine-tuning his setup after the positive start to the weekend. The rookie improved his times by more than a second, and his 1:47.494 left him in 13th, just outside the cut for Q2.

In Q1, Zurutuza continued to improve in terms of his feeling although, unfortunately, his 1:48.235 -set on his second lap- only gave him tenth place in the session. He will start from 24th on Sunday. Carpe completed a solid qualifying session and continued to show great progress. Just outside the Top4 after a great final lap, his 1:47.713 was the fifth best time, and his debut in Moto3 will come from 19th on the grid. In Q2, Rueda pushed the frontrunners until the last lap, when he went all-out to improve his times. Unfortunately, a crash by another rider prevented him from improving, due to yellow flags leading to an aborted hot lap. His 1:47.409 gives him 17th place.

The last Moto3 race of the season will take place at 11:00am local time on Sunday.

Results Qualifying
1. David Alonso (CFMoto) 1:45.905
2. Collin Veijer (Husqvarna) 1:46.252 +0.347
3. Ivan Ortola (KTM) 1:46.276 +0.371
4. Angel Piqueras (Honda) 1:46.473 +0.568
5. Daniel Holgado (GASGAS) 1:46.550 +0.645
17. Jose Antonio Rueda (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:47.479 +1.504
19. Alvaro Carpe (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:47.713 +0.412 *Q1 Time
24. Xabi Zurutuza (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:48.235 +0.934 *Q1 Time

#99 JOSE ANTONIO RUEDA

“I thought that qualifying would go better and in the end we were not able to put together a good lap. Then, on the last lap, we came up against the yellow flag. It wasn’t one of my better qualifying sessions, but that’s no excuse. We will start a little far back and tomorrow we’ll have to fight back to climb the order. We have to do our best, especially because it’s the last race of the year. It will be important to finish it on a high note to end the year well and start next season with a good feeling.”

#85 XABI ZURUTUZA

“Tomorrow is a special day, as it is the last race of the season and my last with this team. We will try to give 100% and get the best possible result. We know it will be a difficult race, as we will start far back. The feeling today improved, but we still have to improve in some aspects. We will try to get a good start and give it our best.”

#83 ALVARO CARPE

“As expected, we have continued to improve the bike and take steps forward, and they have been increasingly bigger steps. I’m happy with the work we have done today, as getting a fast time when riding alone is more difficult -especially because of the long straight. I’m happy because I have improved my time, and I’m riding alone. I’m a little upset that we were so close to going through and didn’t do it. But I know that tomorrow I can have a good race, make up a lot of positions and have fun, which is the most important thing.”