The CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team rider will fight tomorrow from fifth position on the grid after finishing five tenths off pole

CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team rider David Alonso will start the Indonesian GP from the second row of the grid. After a difficult Friday in Mandalika, Alonso has taken a step forward in the final practice session by achieving the fifth best time, a time that has allowed him to go straight into Q2. In qualifying, Alonso has started really strong and, in his first attempt, he has achieved a time of 1:38.072, a register that he has been able to improve to 1:37.845 on his next lap. With this time, Alonso has climbed to the first position, thus setting the benchmark in the first minutes of the session. His rivals have been quick to lower his time and the World Championship leader has gone down to fourth place on the timesheets, behind Iván Ortolá, Collin Veijer and Adrián Fernández. After a brief pit stop, the Moto3 riders have returned to the track in the final minutes of the session to complete a last attempt in the fight for pole. Ortolá has been the fastest and has achieved a record pole after setting a time of 1:37.332. The Spanish has finished two tenths ahead of Collin Veijer, who will start from second, and three ahead of Taiyo Furusato, who is repeating for the second consecutive race on the front row of the grid. The CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team rider has been unable to improve his time in his last attempt and has ended five tenths off pole. Tomorrow, Alonso will fight to achieve his ninth win of the season from the second row.

His teammate Joel Esteban will start tomorrow from the eighth row. The CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team rider has had to compete in Q1, since, although he has managed to lower by eight tenths his best time from yesterday in the last practice session, his time has not been enough to get straight into Q2. In Q1, Esteban has finished ninth, so he has not got through to Q2. The Spanish will start tomorrow from twenty-second position as British rider Eddie O’Shea, who has made his debut in Moto3 this weekend, has been declared unfit by the doctors and cannot compete in the race. The young rookie will fight to come back in order to score points on a track where he has never competed before.

5th David Alonso 1:37.845: “I am physically fine after yesterday's crash, the result is not due to my condition. My rivals are riding really fast and it is not easy. Today we have taken a step forward compared to yesterday, but I have lacked some laps and a little more pace. Tomorrow we will have to learn from our rivals. The race will be long, both because of the heat and the humidity. It will be important to be focused, because we have already seen that there are many crashes due to small oversights. The tyres will also be key, because there will be a lot of degradation and we will have to manage them well.”

23rd Joel Esteban 1:39.165: “I am not happy with qualifying. This morning, in the last practice session, I felt very good, I had a very good feeling with the bike, with the tyres… However, in qualifying everything has been different, I was not comfortable. We are going to try to understand where I have failed and why I have not had a good feeling. Tomorrow will be another day and we will fight to be in front.”