The Moto3 World Championship leader will start from the front row for the eighth time this season. Alvaro Carpe takes 14th on the grid after a difficult Saturday.

Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto3 had mixed fortunes in Qualifying for the Czech GP, with Jose Antonio Rueda claiming second on the grid. He was edged out of his fifth Pole Position of the season by Guido Pini, by 0.026 seconds. Alvaro Carpe, meanwhile, suffered a severe high-side in FP2, and in Q2 he was unable to make up for lost time and was 14th.

As expected, dry conditions and track temperatures as high as 24°C greeted the riders for FP2, which allowed the track record to be lowered once again.

Rueda proved formidable during the morning session, working on his own from start to finish to focus on his race pace. After a spell in third place on the timesheets, in the final minutes he strung together consecutive hot laps, setting the fastest time and, consequently, the all-time track record. His 2:05.421 was 4 tenths better than Carpe’s record from Friday, and was more than 2 tenths ahead of his rivals in the session. Rueda put in a total of 14 laps. Carpe had a session very similar to FP1. With just three flying laps completed, the rookie suffered a severe high-side exiting Turn 1, flying into the air and ending up in the gravel. He escaped without serious injury, but the bruised Spaniard was unable to return to the track due to the condition of his bike. He was 19th with a best time of 2:07.087.

In the afternoon, with track temperatures up to 34°C, Q2 got underway with all the riders following Rueda to try to get a tow. On the out-lap, he was already on the pace, and on his first flying lap he clocked a 2:05.2, beating his own morning time and also that of Angel Piqueras, who had gone faster in Q1. Rueda continued to lower his time again to 2:05.045, and after a pit stop he kept pushing to help his teammate. However, behind them, others also took advantage of Rueda’s slipstream. On the final hot lap, one of them, Guido Pini, snatched Pole by 0.026 seconds. Rueda, who completed 7 laps, will start second on the grid for the eighth time in twelve races. For Carpe, Q2 was a tough session, as he had missed out on track time in the morning due to his crash. It was his first full session in dry conditions in Brno, so he took the fifteen minutes runout calmly. After placing 13th on his first outing, Carpe tried to improve his time with the help of his teammate, but dropped off in the final metres and had to settle for 14th place. His fastest time from his six laps of Brno was a 2:06.132.

In conclusion, a great Saturday for Rueda but a bit more complicated for Carpe, who has not been able to do as many laps as he would have liked in the two first days of the Czech Grand Prix. The Moto3 race in Brno will take place on Sunday from 11am local time.

Qualifying Results
1. Guido Pini (KTM) | 2:05.019
2. Jose Antonio Rueda (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | 2:05.045 (+0.026)
3. David Muñoz (KTM) | 2:05.057 (+0.038)
4. David Almansa (Honda) | 2:05.091 (+0.072)
5. Maximo Quiles (KTM) | 2:05.175 (+0.156)
14. Alvaro Carpe (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | 2:06.132 (+1.113)

#99 JOSE ANTONIO RUEDA

“I’m happy to get on the front row of the grid here, at a new track that I hadn’t been familiar with until now. With the second tyre, we could have improved our time a bit more, but we couldn’t nail the hot lap completely and narrowly missed out on Pole. I like the layout and we feel very competitive here, so tomorrow we’ll go out to enjoy ourselves and try to have a great race. We’ll have to take the track conditions and tyre degradation into account, but we’ll give our all to get a good result before we head into the summer break.”

#83 ALVARO CARPE

“It was a strange day today. We only qualified in 14th place after barely doing any laps in FP2, due to a heavy crash. Fortunately, we’re feeling ok, so we’ll give our all to try to score as many points as possible and go into the summer break with a good feeling. Through thick and thin, we continue to learn and gain experience, so we’re confident and motivated for the the final day here at Brno. The race looks like it’ll be run in groups, so we’re ready to fight.”