The rookie finishes seventh in Practice and tops the timesheets in FP1. Alvaro Carpe places 19th and will have to go through Q1.

It was an excellent Friday for Brian Uriarte at the Autodromo Internacional Ayrton Senna, to start the Brazilian Grand Prix. The Red Bull KTM Ajo rider secured seventh place in Moto3 Practice, guaranteeing another spot in Q2. This came after he had topped a session for the first time as a World Championship rider. Alvaro Carpe also had a good FP1 in unfavourable conditions, placing third, then was 19th in the afternoon and he will take part in Q1.

With an FP1 session 10 minutes longer than usual, to allow for adaptation to the new track, the action was subsequently delayed by an hour due to poor weather conditions. When it finally got underway, track temperature was 24°C and humidity at 94%.

Uriarte quickly acclimatised, and after an early move into the Top 5 he topped the timesheets at the end of the first ten minutes. With twenty minutes remaining, he pitted to give feedback to his team, then on his second and final run he improved his previous best time by almost half a second. Setting the pace, Uriarte continued to run solo laps to further lower his time, with a 1:32.812 after 22 laps being his best attempt. He was more than a second faster than almost all of his rivals, as he claimed the top spot. Carpe was somewhat more cautious than his teammate. He worked on his setup to adapt to the conditions and the circuit, and slowly closed the gap to the frontrunners throughout the session. He gained confidence with each lap, reaching third place towards the end of the session. A 1:34.304, set on his penultimate lap of a total of 22, put him in a positive sixth place.

The Moto3 grid took to a dry track for Practice, but in a quite tricky conditions, with wet spots all over the circuit. Track temperature of 41°C and 65% humidity made it a more fruitful session for the riders

Uriarte aimed to lead the session from the start, although his teammate Carpe would have a spell at the front. He remained among the fastest riders until the Time Attack, which he approached comfortably from second position. With some of his rivals improving their pace, Uriarte secured seventh position with a best time of 1:30.601, just 3 tenths of a second off the top spot. Carpe took over the lead  after the first ten minutes of the session. Whilst he worked together with Uriarte during the first half of Practice, he didn’t find the same feeling as his teammate, having to brilliantly save a pair of crashes. Heading into the final ten minutes, the Red Bull KTM Ajo rider had to push harder, lying as he did in a provisional 12th place. Despite trying to catch his teammate’s slipstream, he couldn’t lower his time, which dropped him to 19th position. Carpe completed 19 laps, two more than his teammate, and will have to go through Q1 on Saturday.

Following this first Friday for everyone in Brazil, the paddock is already gearing up for Qualifying, though they are still waiting to find out what the weather and conditions will be like in Goiânia on Saturday. Both Carpe and Uriarte will take part in FP2 on Saturday, starting at 8:40 a.m. (local time). In the afternoon, Carpe will participate in Q1 at 12:45 p.m., hoping to join Uriarte in Q2 at 1:10 p.m.

Practice Results
1. David Almansa (KTM) | 1:30.260
2. Cormac Buchanan (KTM) | 1:30.263 (+0.003)
3. Veda Pratama (Honda) | 1:30.310 (+0.050)
4. Joel Kelso (Honda) | 1:30.371 (+0.111)
5. Rico Salmela (KTM) | 1:30.481 (+0.221)
7. Brian Uriarte (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | 1:30.601 (+0.341)
19. Alvaro Carpe (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | 1:31.880 (+1.620)

#83 ALVARO CARPE

“We were expecting more from today. We couldn’t try too many things out this morning because the rain changed our plans. Luckily, the conditions improved in the afternoon, and although we tried to give 100%, things didn’t go as planned. Our feeling wasn’t the best, and we couldn’t make it into Q2. Tomorrow we’ll have to work much harder to get through via Q1. I really like the circuit; it’s a bit small and narrow, but that’s also a good incentive for Sunday.”

#51 BRIAN URIARTE

“It was a good day today. I quite like the circuit, and the feeling was very good. I’m very happy to have been able to lead my first Moto3 session, so now we have to keep going and take more positive steps. The conditions are quite changeable, so we won’t know what to expect until tomorrow. The important thing is to be able to adapt to any circumstances, and I think we showed that today. We’re going to try for more tomorrow; we still have room for improvement and work to do for Sunday.”