Moto3 Sepang: Almansa fastest without a tow, Bertelle into Q2, Quiles makes a mistake and finishes 11th

One lap, a new tyre and no one ahead to give him a tow: that was all David Almansa needed to set the fastest time in Moto3 pre-qualifying at the Malaysian Grand Prix.

The Intact GP rider clocked a 2'11"427, just 69 thousandths ahead of Rico Salmela, on a track where slipstreaming usually makes all the difference. It was an important response in the fight for second place in the championship, while newly crowned world champion Maximo Quiles was nowhere near the front.

With the air temperature at 34 degrees and no rain in sight, the 35-minute session determined which 14 riders would go straight through to Q2. Almansa waited for the right moment: when the group returned to the pits, the Spaniard headed back out on his KTM in the final five minutes and climbed from seventh to the top of the timesheets.

Three rookies came closest to challenging Almansa. Tech3 rookie Salmela made his move with three minutes to go, jumping from 11th to second. Veda Pratama was third, the best-placed Honda rider for Honda Team Asia, around a tenth off the pace. The Indonesian had taken pole in Australia, where the race was later cancelled. Local favourite Hakim Danish was fourth, having led just seconds before Almansa’s decisive lap.

The battle between the rookies also matters in the standings. Brian Uriarte, who leads the rookie classification and could wrap it up this weekend, finished ninth, with Pratama and Danish—his closest rivals—both ahead of him. The KTM Ajo rider had also been the only one to crash in FP1, suffering a harmless slide.

Matteo Bertelle was the top Italian, finishing sixth on the Level Up MTA bike, around two tenths off the pace and behind Adrian Fernandez, who was fifth on the Leopard Honda. Fernandez also holds the lap record, set with a 2'09"542 in qualifying in 2024. It was a less fortunate session for Guido Pini, 15th on the second Leopard: he was one of the few riders to improve in the closing stages, but not by enough, and will have to go through Q1.

Alvaro Carpe was seventh after topping the morning’s FP1 session, beating Quiles by 129 thousandths. The Red Bull KTM Ajo Spaniard is third in the championship, just a few points behind Almansa. According to Crash.net, he was also involved in an afternoon clash with Ryusei Yamanaka, who reacted with a series of gestures. Joel Esteban, Uriarte and David Munoz completed a top ten covered by just over four tenths.

It was an uphill day for Quiles. The Aspar world champion made a few mistakes in the afternoon session, including cutting a corner, and could manage no better than 11th, although that was still enough for Q2. The final qualifying spots went to GRYD Racing riders Joel Kelso and Eddie O'Shea, along with Scott Ogden, who was 14th on the CIP Green Power bike.

Valentin Perrone, in 17th, still has to serve the long-lap penalty he picked up at the previous round, which remained outstanding after no racing took place at Phillip Island. There are just 25 riders on the grid, with Cormac Buchanan still sidelined and not replaced this time. Next up is qualifying, where Almansa will try to turn his solo lap into pole position.

-> Follow us on Instagram too: @Corsedimoto