David Almansa took victory at the Japanese Grand Prix. After a closely contested race between himself and Máximo Quiles, he managed to hold off the challenge. This stopped Quiles’ win streak after his third in a row at the Austrian Grand Prix. They were joined on the podium by Álvaro Carpe, with back-to-back podiums in the last two rounds.
Morelli Fastest in close field on Friday
Marco Morelli topped Friday Practice. After a cold start to the morning, the track conditions improved ahead of the afternoon session. The top three were completed by Ryusei Yamanaka and Brian Uriarte, with the top 17 all within a second of each other.
With a cold start to Friday morning, the track conditions were more challenging. Some rain began to fall, making conditions even worse. Hakim Danish crashed due to the conditions. He walked away from this very big crash.
Almansa did not get off to the best start to the weekend with two crashes in the morning session. Due to the cold temperatures, riders were taking the session steadily, meaning there was not much action. Yamanaka ended the morning session fastest.
As the afternoon session came around, the track had warmed up, ready for the riders to fight out for the top 14 spots to go straight to Q2.
Even with the warmer conditions, riders were struggling with many crashes. The first half of the session saw crashes for Ruché Moodley, Almansa, Quiles, Adrián Cruces and David Muñoz.
The second half of the session was not that much easier, with even more crashes for Carpe, Eddie O’Shea, and another big one for Danish.
Despite all the struggles, Morelli posted the best lap time. Quiles, who mathematically could have won the championship this weekend, was down in sixth, with his competitors in third, fourth, and 10th.
Top 10 in Practice:
P1: #97 Marco Morelli 1:55.280
P2: #6 Ryusei Yamanaka +0.016
P3: #51 Brian Uriarte +0.084
P4: #83 Álvaro Carpe +0.113
P5: #73 Valentín Perrone +0.132
P6: #28 Máximo Quiles +0.229
P7: #64 David Muñoz +0.281
P8: #9 Veda Pratama +0.317
P9: #18 Matteo Bertelle +0.336
P10: #22 David Almansa +0.350
Almansa takes Seventh Pole this Season
Almansa took pole ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix. He broke the lap record on the way to his seventh pole position of the year. The front row was completed by the Red Bull KTM Ajo team with Uriarte in second and Carpe in third.
Qualifying One
As Q1 got underway, all the riders headed out on track to fight for their place in Q2. The top four riders from this session advance to the next session and aim to improve their grid positions.
Overall, the session was quiet as the riders battled for the fastest time. It was Guido Pini who put together the fastest lap in the session. Also going through to the next session were Rico Salmela, Jesús Ríos and Zen Mitani.
Qualifying Two
As Q2 got underway, all 18 riders were ready to fight for pole position. With Quiles being able to win the championship this weekend, qualifying was more important than ever.
The first laps saw the top four in the championship battling it out, with Almansa and Uriarte battling it out for the top spot. Morelli, who was fastest on Friday, seemed to have lost the pace he set a day earlier.
During qualifying, there was a big crash for Veda Pratama. He walked away from a nasty highside, not what he wanted with his home round next weekend.
No one could stop Almansa, who set his seventh pole position of the year. The top 12 in qualifying were all within a second of Almansa’s new lap record.
Top 10 in Qualifying:
P1: #22 David Almansa 1:54.572
P2: #51 Brian Uriarte +0.045
P3: #83 Álvaro Carpe +0.075
P4: #28 Máximo Quiles +0.282
P5: #18 Matteo Bertelle +0.346
P6: #54 David Muñoz +0.575
P7: #27 Rico Salmela +0.675
P8: #73 Valentín Perrone +0.882
P9: #97 Marco Morelli +0.897
P10: #6 Ryusei Yamanaka +0.945
Almansa wins ahead of Quiles
Almansa took the win at the Japanese Grand Prix, beating Quiles by 0.046 seconds. Carpe joined the pair on the podium two seconds behind. After early race leader Uriarte got a double long lap penalty for the team working on the bike after the three-minute board, Almansa inherited the lead and held off Quiles’ challenge on the last lap.
As the lights went out, it was a good start for Almansa, who kept the lead at turn one. Lots of other riders were battling out to get the best position around the early corners. There was an early battle among eight riders fighting for the lead.
As the battle of the lead continued, Uriarte made his way to the front. Further down the field, Mitani was given a double long lap penalty for jumping the start, not what he wanted for his home round. While one Japanese rider struggled, Yamanaka was in the front battle.
As the news came in of Uriarte’s double long lap penalty, he was in the lead. With the penalty, a podium now looked uncertain. He took the penalty on the next lap, which moved him down to P6.
As the race continued, the battle for the podium saw Quiles and Carpe battle hard. Quiles eventually got past Carpe and started pulling towards Almansa.
Quiles’ pace was impressive towards the end of the race, being right with Almansa on the final lap. Almansa managed to hold him off at the end of the lap to take his third win of the season. Quiles did not take the championship this weekend, but if he has a lead of over 125 points in the next round, he will be crowned champion.
Race Top 10:
P1: #22 David Almansa
P2: #28 Máximo Quiles +0.046
P3: #83 Álvaro Carpe +2.738
P4: #51 Brian Uriarte +3.610
P5: #27 Rico Salmela +4.430
P6: #18 Matteo Bertelle +5.584
P7: #64 David Muñoz +13.080
P8: #6 Ryusei Yamanaka +13.166
P9: #78 Joel Esteban +20.962
P10: #11 Adrián Cruces +21.031
The riders will be back in action this weekend at the Indonesian Grand Prix, 9-11 October.