Valencia Moto3: Champion Acosta claims first pole position

Pedro Acosta fixed the only blip in his 2021 championship winning season by taking pole in the final seconds of qualifying for the Valencia Moto3 Grand Prix, the final race of the 18 round championship. 

The Red Bull KTM Ajo rider is already the 2021 Moto3 champion after taking the title at the last round in Portimao. With honours secured and nothing to lose, the rookie left it to the final moments of the session, right at the back of the field, to steal a late pole position. 

It is his first in world championship racing after struggling with qualifying throughout his rookie season. With the pressure finally off after leading from round two Acosta celebrated with a wheelie and a knowing return of his finger wave from last week.

Tatsuki Suzuki had not set a flying lap before his final run. The SIC58 Squadra Corse rider topped the timesheets briefly before Acosta leapt from seventh to pole. He remains the top Honda, with a lap just 0.310s slower the Spaniard.

Izan Guevara has also shown sparks of quality in his rookie season and lead the way on Friday in changeable weather conditions. The Valresa Aspar rider brought a total mix of manufacturers to the front row aboard the GasGas machine. It will be the Spanish riders first front row start since the opening round in Qatar.

Rivacold Snipers rider Andrea Migno found himself shuffled back to fourth by the final rush to the line, with all the riders leaving it late to leave the pits and start their final runs.

Filip Salac used his last lunge to climb from tenth to fifth for CarXpert PruestelGP.

Lorenzo Fellon also found late improvements. Climbing to sixth to equals his best grid position in his rookie season after moving up from the first qualifying session. He last achieved the position in Germany.

Dennis Foggia looked to put behind him the disappointment of being taken out while fighting for the crown last weekend. The Leopard rider was sitting third for much of the session before getting swamped by the final runs around the circuit, leaving him seventh.

Joining the number seven on row three are fellow Italians Romano Fenati (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team) in eighth and Niccolo Antonelli (Avintia Vr46 Academy) who moved up thorough Q1 with the top time to progress to ninth.

Polesitter in the Algarve, Sergio Garcia, saw success in Q1 when he left the pits early to catch his rivals unaware and got a clean solo run to set the second best time. The Valresa GasGas rider attempted the same tactic in Q2, but it did not work quite as well - initially leading the way, the times that came after he took the chequered flag first dropped him to tenth on the grid.

Deniz Oncu was the fastest rider ahead of qualifying after picking up the pace in FP3 but could not match his morning performance, the Red Bull KTM Tech 3 rider starts 13th.

The polesitters from last seasons two races at the Ricardo Tormo circuit, Petronas Sprinta team-mates John McPhee and the MotoGP bound Darryn Binder, are 15th and 16th respectively.

Xavier Artigas saw his progress hampered after moving through Q1. Any early bail out at turn two lead to him stalling. He returned to the pits and made it back to the track, but his final trip around the track was only good enough for 17th on the second Leopard entry.

Joel Kelso sits in again for Maximilian Kofler at CIP Green Power, showing he had gotten to grips with bike and circuit in FP3 where he was third, the Australian went straight into Q2. He went on to finish 18th.

Jose Antonio Rueda is in for Gabriel Rodrigo at Indonesian Racing Gresini. In the progression places late he was shuffled back when the chequered flag came out, finishing the session seventh to line up on the grid in 21st.

Valencian Jaume Masia couldn’t use his local knowledge to find a way out of the first half of qualifying. He starts 23rd on the second Ajo entry.

Two crashes in Q1 saw Ayumu Sasaki at the bottom end of the timesheets. Looking sore after a particularly hard second off, he is due to line up 26th for Red Bull KTM Tech 3.

Andi Farid Izdihar will not complete the race weekend after fracturing his right hand in his FP3 fall.