The Moto3 rookie takes a spot on the second row for the Indonesian Grand Prix. The World Championship leader will complete the third row of the grid.

Red Bull KTM Ajo will occupy the second and third rows of the Moto3 grid on raceday at the Indonesian Grand Prix, with Alvaro Carpe fourth and Jose Antonio Rueda ninth. The rookie had his best Q2 of the second half of the season, while the World Championship leader continued to work alone to establish a potentially title-winning pace for Sunday.

The Moto3 class’ second day on track began with ambient temperatures of 37°C and 74% humidity, similar to Friday ones.

Rueda rode by himself, although several of the most competitive riders in the class tried to follow him during the first part of FP2. After hovering around the top positions for the first twenty minutes, he eventually climbed to first place, setting his best time of the weekend. Deciding against a change of tyres, he completed the session in a single run, with a large number of mid-1:37 laps that showed his consistency. After 19 laps, Rueda’s best was a 1:37.357, placing him third -just one tenth off the top spot. Carpe was part of the group chasing Rueda in the first half of Free Practice 2. The Red Bull KTM Ajo rookie never strayed from the fastest riders, and was within the Top 6 until the final minutes. Like his teammate, he stayed out and worked with worn tyres to establish his pace for Sunday’s race. Over his 19 laps at the Indonesian track, he posted a best lap of 1:37.535, 7 tenths quicker than in Practice. The Spaniard finished seventh, 3 tenths off the pacesetter.

In Q2, track temperatures reached a scorching 57°C, and humidity remained at 70%.

Carpe was in the middle of the main group at the start of the session, going on to set a pair of strong laps to firmly place himself in the Top 10. Continuing to regain the confidence he hadn’t been able to demonstrate in recent races, he was solid throughout Q2, and came out with fresh tyres for a Time Attack. He posted his best lap of the weekend after establishing a good baseline pace, with his 1:37.181 putting him fourth on the grid. Carpe was less than 2 tenths of a second off Pole Position, and claimed his best result in Q2 since June -when he was also fourth in qualifying at the Dutch TT. Rueda made his typical early push, and took another seventeen competitors with him as they tried to follow the title contender. He backed off on several occasions, leaving his pursuers to fight on their own and waiting until the final run of Q2 to attempt a perfect lap. Unfortunately, he was unable to do so, after suffering greatly with gusts of wind on the back straight in the second sector. With no tow to help him during his nine laps, Rueda had to settle for a 1:37.547, which relegated him to the third row of the grid. He will be in ninth place for the Indonesian Grand Prix, where he needs to earn just seven more points than rival Angel Piqueras to be crowned Moto3 World Champion. His fellow challenger is 11th on the grid for the race.

In short, Red Bull KTM Ajo has completed the second day at Mandalika and is now preparing for a Sunday that could be very special if Jose Antonio Rueda clinches the World Championship title. With this goal in mind, as well as further securing the team title, the two Spanish riders will be looking to put on a good show. The 20-lap Moto3 contest gets underway at 12:00 p.m. (local time).

Qualifying Results
1. Adrian Fernandez (Honda) | 1:37.022
2. David Muñoz (KTM) | 1:37.121 (+0.099)
3. Joel Kelso (KTM) | 1:37.174 (+0.152)
4. Alvaro Carpe (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | 1:37.181 (+0.159)
5. Taiyo Furusato (Honda) | 1:37.240 (+0.218)
9. Jose Antonio Rueda (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | 1:37.547 (+0.525)

#99 JOSE ANTONIO RUEDA

“It was a positive day at Mandalika. Today we managed to take another step forward after gaining some very useful data from FP2. Qualifying wasn’t an easy session, with a lot of traffic and riders trying to follow us, but we knew this was coming, so we focused on doing our job. In the end, we took ninth place when riding alone, so I’m happy, especially with how I felt. Tomorrow we’ll have to give it our all and go all out to try to win the race, which is the goal every weekend. If something more is going to happen, then it will.”

#83 ALVARO CARPE

“I’m very satisfied with today. We’ve managed to take another step forward. This morning we focused on working with tomorrow in mind, and our pace is quite good. We took things very seriously and worked very hard, so I’m very satisfied with how productive we were. The Time Attack went well, and we improved our time from previous sessions again, so we’re feeling very positive. I hope to have a bit of good luck tomorrow in the race and be able to fight for the positions we deserve.”