Rueda takes his second Pole Position of the season, with Carpe for the first time in the front row.

Red Bull KTM Ajo achieved their best Qualifying result of the season at the United Kingdom Grand Prix, with a one-two in Q2 for Jose Antonio Rueda and Alvaro Carpe. It followed an impressive FP2 in which Rueda was also fastest, meaning that the pair have topped the timesheets in every session they took part so far at Silverstone. Unfortunately, Rueda will have to start last on the grid after disturbing other rivals during his flying laps in Q2.

Saturday began with the track completely wet, after overnight rain, but there would be no further rainfall during Free Practice 2.

The Red Bull KTM Ajo riders avoided taking too many risks, with Rueda completing a short run of three laps before returning to the pits to wait for the final minutes. With the asphalt drying and a clean line beginning to appear, the current Moto3 World Championship leader benefited from the improvement in conditions on a three-lap run, moving up from 20th to first place. His best time of 2:19.739 was over 1.5 seconds quicker than his nearest rival, and meant he topped his seventh practice session of the season, after just six laps completed. Carpe followed a similar strategy, with four laps in his initial run and then a wait to change to slicks for the final five minutes. He also managed to place among the frontrunners, after employing the same plan as his teammate, but had to settle for fourth place with a fastest time of 2:21.745.

In Q2, the two Red Bull KTM Ajo riders worked together to try to obtain the best grid positions possible. Rueda started strongly, intending to lead the pack so as not to have anyone in front of him impeding his progress. After a change to slicks, he again avoided traffic and pushed hard, posting a 2:09.449 that earned him his second pole position of the season, edging out his teammate. Carpe had a spell in the lead during the early part of the session, taking advantage of the slipstream of many other riders. When he changed tyres, he decided to follow his teammate, and put in the same number of laps -seven- as Rueda. His 2:09.556 put him extremely close to pole, eventually ensuring the first Red Bull KTM Ajo one-two on the grid this season and his first front row start of the campaign.

With the aim of fighting for the victory and a double podium, Rueda and Carpe will start at an unusual time, with the Moto3 race being the last one to be held at Silverstone. The 15-lap United Kingdom Grand Prix race will take place from 2:30 p.m. local time on Sunday.

Qualifying Results
1. Jose Antonio Rueda (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | 2:09.449
2. Alvaro Carpe (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | 2:09.556 (+0.107)
3. Angel Piqueras (KTM) | 2:09.845 (+0.396)
4. David Almansa (Honda) | 2:09.966 (+0.526)
5. Joel Kelso (KTM) | 2:10.108 (+0.659)

#99 JOSE ANTONIO RUEDA

“This Pole Position was a very nice one. We did a very good job, and also having Alvaro with me on the front row is something special. We knew that other riders would be behind us during Q2, so we just tried to focus on ourselves and push to the limit at the front. It was difficult to set a fast lap time with the strong wind, but we worked very well with Alvaro and it paid off. Now we have to focus on tomorrow and prepare for the race as much as possible, because the weather could play an important role. We need to have evey possibility under control to fight for the win.”

#83 ALVARO CARPE

“’I’m very happy about my first front row in Moto3. We’ve been working very well throughout the weekend and the teamwork with Jose Antonio was really good, so everything went as we planned. Since France, we have been trying to improve in Qualifying, and I think we’re doing better, but we need to keep focusing on our job to get closer and closer during the race. Rueda is very fast here and we want to be up there with him tomorrow, so we need to keep working with my crew chief to continue making small steps before the race starts.”