The Moto3 World Championship leader secures second place in Practice at Motegi. Alvaro Carpe, in 18th, will have to go through Q1 in Japan.

Jose Antonio Rueda kept up his perfect record of Q2 entries with a solid Friday at Twin Ring Motegi. The Moto3 World Championship leader posted the second-fastest time in Practice, making his way into the session for the seventeenth consecutive round. Earlier in the morning, he finished third to confirm a more than positive start to the Grand Prix. Teammate Alvaro Carpe was 18th in Practice, and thus will have to go through Q1 for the fourth time this season.

On a pleasant and clear morning at the Japanese Grand Prix, track temperatures were 34ºC, making it some of the best morning conditions of the season.

Rueda followed his usual plan of riding alone from the first lap of Free Practice 1. He remained in the Top 10 throughout, moving into the Top 5 past the halfway mark. With nearly 25 minutes of riding time under his belt, he then made a Time Attack and improved on his 15th and final flying lap, clocking a 1:55.990. That was just 0.043 seconds off the top spot and his best time ever at Motegi, placing him third in the session. Carpe also focused on his own riding, trying to learn a new track for him as quickly as possible. Initially, the Red Bull KTM Ajo rookie remained outside the Top 20, more than two seconds off the best time. However, he managed to move up to 18th shortly before pitting, completing a first stint of just over 20 minutes in duration. Like his teammate, Carpe came back out in the final stretch and improved his times, with a 1:57.598 putting him 21st -1.6 seconds off the lead. He completed 13 laps in total.

Following the great morning conditions, temperatures improved even further for the Practice session, reaching 28º in the air and 40º on the track.

Rueda picked up from where he left off, focusing on his race pace with Sunday in mind. He took a calm approach to the Time Attack to ensure he could set a strong time on his own, and the Red Bull KTM Ajo rider took to the track slightly later than the rest of the field. He briefly dropped out of the Top 14, but recovered to go second, with a best time of 1:55.402 after 16 laps. He put in two more laps of the Japanese track than any other rider, and made the cut for Q2 once again. The session was more of a struggle for Carpe, as he first tried to work alone but then rode in a group to better understand the lines. In 21st place in his first stint before heading to the pits, he was then able to make a notable improvement when he went back out, climbing to seventh. Unfortunately, he was unable to lower his time on any further laps, which caused him to gradually lose positions in the more intense minutes of the session. Finally, his 1:56.430 left him 18th, 3 tenths off the cutoff for Q2, meaning he will have to go through Q1 for the fourth time this season. Carpe completed 13 laps in Practice.

All in all, it was a very positive Friday for Jose Antonio Rueda and a busy one for Alvaro Carpe. The former has shown that will be one of the favourites to take Pole Position at Twin Ring Motegi, while the latter will have to do the same in Q1, where he has already achieved three passes out of three. Both riders will take part in the Free Practice 2 on Saturday, starting at 9:25 a.m. (local time). Carpe will then take part in Q1, starting at 12:45 p.m., with the aim of joining his teammate in Q2 at 1:10 p.m.

Practice Results
1. David Muñoz (KTM) | 1:55.234
2. Jose Antonio Rueda (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | 1:55.402 (+0.168)
3. Ryusei Yamanaka (KTM) | 1:55.590 (+0.356)
4. Angel Piqueras (KTM) | 1:55.626 (+0.392)
5. David Almansa (Honda) | 1:55.672 (+0.438)
18. Alvaro Carpe (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | 1:56.430 (+1.196)

#99 JOSE ANTONIO RUEDA

“I’m very happy with this first day at Motegi. I like the circuit and the feeling has been very good. In the morning, we didn’t have much grip, but in the afternoon the conditions improved, and the tyres did the rest, even though the temperatures were higher. We need to continue working on some details to improve our feeling, but overall, we’re on the right direction. This afternoon, we’ll look at what aspects we can tweak for tomorrow, and I’m sure we’ll find something better to tackle Qualifying with more confidence.”

#83 ALVARO CARPE

“It wasn’t our best Friday, but we have to turn things around tomorrow. I’m motivated to give it my all on Saturday and get the best possible grid position. We need to put in more laps of the circuit, so we’ll have to make the most of every session to continue getting to know every corner of Motegi. We’re working to improve session by session, and I’m convinced we’ll eventually achieve it. I’m loving Japan and the circuit, so we’re going to take all these positives and try to correct the things that didn’t go as we wanted during this first day here.”