Izan Guevara has scored one last pole position in this, the final round of his World Championship-winning Moto3™ season, at the Gran Premio Motul de la Comunitat Valenciana. He set a 1:38.479 late in Q2 at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo and Sergio Garcia made it Valresa GASGAS Aspar Team riders first and third on the starting grid, with Red Bull KTM Tech3’s Deniz Öncü set to line up between them. The result is a plus for Garcia’s hopes of clinching second in the riders’ standings given his rivals for that honour, Ayumu Sasaki (Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max) and Dennis Foggia (Leopard Racing), were classified fifth and seventh respectively in the latter 15-minue stanza of the afternoon.

Tatsuki Suzuki (Leopard Racing) was the initial Q2 pace-setter on a 1:38.875, ahead of Free Practice fast man Ryusei Yamanaka (MT Helmets – MSI) on a 1:38.927 and Guevara on a 1:38.998. A late crash in FP3 saw Sasaki go into Q1 and while he escaped it with the fastest lap of that session, he was on the floor again on his first flyer of Q2 at Turn 14, and thus back into the pits without a time to his name.

Garcia was sixth-fastest when he made an early start to his second run. The Spaniard was immediately on a fast one before he was out of the seat at Turn 8, but then clocked a 1:38.654 to go provisional pole next time around, as most of the rest rolled out for their next flyers.

With less than a minute to go before the chequered flag was unfurled, Öncü went fastest on a 1:38.525 before Guevara took over top spot by a margin of just 0.046 seconds. Diogo Moreira (MT Helmets – MSI) was classified fourth on a 1:38.697, and will be looking for early track position in Sunday’s race given the Long Lap Penalty which he has to serve following a crash under yellow flags in FP1. Sasaki bounced back from his spills to claim fifth on the grid with a 1:38.761 – thanks, perhaps, to some advice from a certain Fabio Quartararo – with Ivan Ortola (Angeluss MTA Team) joining them on Row 2.

Row 3 of the grid is headed up by Foggia after ‘The Rocket’ went as fast as a 1:38.856, with his Leopard Racing teammate Suzuki to line up next to him and Yamanaka next to his fellow Japanese rider. John McPhee (Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max) will start his final Moto3™ race from 10th on the grid, with Jaume Masia (Red Bull KTM Ajo) qualifying 11th. However, both Masia and Kaito Toba (CIP Green Power), the latter of whom did not get out of Q1, will have to start from pitlane and serve a Long Lap Penalty as punishment for their physical altercation in FP3.

The Moto3™ field is back on-track for their Warm Up on Sunday at 09:00 (GMT +1), then it’s the final race of 2022 at 11:00!

Moto3™ Q2 Top 10

1. Izan Guevara (Valresa GASGAS Aspar Team) – 1:38.479
2. Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Tech3) + 0.046
3. Sergio Garcia (Valresa GASGAS Aspar Team) + 0.175
4. Diogo Moreira (MT Helmets – MSI) + 0.218
5. Ayumu Sasaki (Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max) + 0.282
6. Ivan Ortola (Angeluss MTA Team) + 0.318
7. Dennis Foggia (Leopard Racing) + 0.377
8. Tatsuki Suzuki (Leopard Racing) + 0.396
9. Ryusei Yamanaka (MT Helmets – MSI) + 0.448
10. John McPhee (Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max) + 0.470