Furusato crashed just a few minutes before the end of the session, bringing out a yellow flag, but it was cleared in time to allow riders on flying laps to finish. Joan Kelso, currently fourth in the championship, has been declared unfit following his crash in FP2 and will not participate in Q2. It’s hard to imagine he’ll be able to race tomorrow.

Angel Piqueras is out of Q1 and appeared very slow and unsteady, especially in changes of direction and corner entry. On the other side, the rest of the field showed a more consistent pace. By the fourth lap, tyre degradation became a major factor, making it difficult for riders to continue improving their lap times.

Despite a slightly untidy lap, Marco Morelli still managed to perform well, taking advantage of the slipstream from other riders.

Top 10

1. Angel Piqueras (2.05.38)
2. Marcos Uriarte (+0.459)
3. Marco Morelli (+0.508)
4. Noah Dettwiler (+0.518)
5. Stefano Nepa (+0.585)
6. Taiyo Furusato (+0.606)
7. Riccardo Rossi (+0.653)
8. Eddie O’Shea (+0.891)
9. Leonardo Abruzzo (+1.301)
10. Lenoxx Phommara (+1.759)

Luckily for Piqueras, his track limits penalties were deleted at the start of the session, giving him a slight reprieve in a tough session.

Reliability issues continue to plague KTM, with yet another engine failure, this time Yamanaka’s. That brings the count to multiple KTM engine blowouts this year: two for Rueda, and one each for Quiles, Kelso, Pini, and now Yamanaka. It’s known that KTM hasn’t introduced new engines for this season but instead revised last year’s units, even switching suppliers for certain components.

Alvaro Carpe, likely still shaken from his FP2 crash, couldn’t manage competitive times.

Meanwhile, Guido Pini claimed his first-ever pole position with an impressive 2:05.01, just ahead of José Rueda (+0.026) and David Muñoz (+0.038).

Top 16

1. Guido Pini (2.05.01)
2. José Rueda (+0.026)
3. David Muñoz (+0.038)
4. David Almansa (+0.072)
5. Maximo Quiles (+0.156)
6. Dennis Foggia (+0.169)
7. Valentin Perrone (+0.251)
8. Adrian Fernandez (+0.375)
9. Marco Morelli (+0.557)
10. Angel Piqueras (+0.582)
11. Marcos Uriarte (+0.611)
12. Scott Ogden (+0.836)
13. Nicola Carraro (+0.918)
14. Alvaro Carpe (+1.113)
15. Noah Dettwiler (+1240)
16. Jacob Roulstone (+1535)