British Moto3: Rookie Moreira takes maiden pole at Sliverstone

Diogo Moreira found perfect track position to claim his first pole position in qualifying for the Moto3 British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

Lisa Lewis

06 Aug 2022

Diogo Moreira, Moto3, British MotoGP, 5 August

Diogo Moreira wasn’t fazed by the congestion on track and used it to his advantage to claim his first world championship pole position ahead of the Moto3 British Grand Prix, round twelve of the championship.

The Brazilian spent much of his time in the same group on track and while his rivals tripped each other over, the eighteen year old sat quietly and patiently at the back to get the biggest slipstream of all and set a best lap of 2m 10.951s at Silverstone.

It was a session to celebrate for the MT Helmets-MSI team with their other rider, Ryusei Yamanaka, climbing from 16th to third on his penultimate lap to claim his first front row start.

The KTM duo are joined on the front row by Gaviota GasGas Aspar rider Izan Guevara. Only just behind in the title hunt, the Spaniard again ran to his own schedule to stay solo as he set the second best time, just 0.068s shy of the pole lap.

It gives him a big advantage over his team-mate and title rival Sergio Garcia.

Championship leader Garcia finished Friday outside the top fifteen, finding improvements hard to come by after topping FP1. His situation hadn’t improved by the end of FP3 so a trip through Q1 was needed for the Spaniard.

Coming through third, he was often at the lead of a train of riders instead of being able to gain by being in the tow. The #11 finished qualifying eleventh.

Sergio Garcia, Moto3, British MotoGP, 5 August

Riccardo Rossi also needed a trip through Q1, which he powered through with the best time. He was on for a front row start before being edged out by Yamanaka on his way to fourth for SIC58 Squadra Corse and will be the top Honda on the grid.

Stefano Nepa was a constant in the same group as the Japanese rider leading to a similar time for the Angeluss MTA Team rider, pushing him to fifth.

The final slot on row two went to Deniz Oncu (Red Bull KTM Tech3), one of several riders to come straight back into the pit for a change of tyre after their first lap.

The Leopard team worked together on track to try and get an advantage. Dennis Foggia was just faster than Tatsuki Suzuki in seventh and eighth respectively.

Assen pole man and race winner Ayumu Sasaki couldn’t quite match that form after the summer gap, but was a solid ninth for Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max Racing.

John McPhee was top after Friday ahead of his home race. Traffic was no friend to the British rider, who pulled out of his final run after passes on him in the group as well as other riders giving up on their lap ahead saw him with no chance to improve, completing the top ten with a time just slower than his team-mate.

Rookie Daniel Holgado was twelfth best for Red Bull KTM Ajo, with Andrea Migno off the pace in 13th for Rivacold Snipers.

Taiyo Furusato made it through to Q2 for the first time with Honda Team Asia, but was over 1.3s off the pole time finishing Q2 in 17th.

What happened in Q1?

Scott Ogden would have been hoping for more at at circuit he is more familiar with, having raced this Silverstone configuration in his British Talent Cup spell. He finished Q1 in tenth for 24th on the grid as Garcia got in the way of his group on track on the last lap of the session as the chequered flag waved.

His VisionTrack team-mate Joshua Whatley had bike issues at the start of the session with it cutting out on him in more than one occasion. When finally out on track the sixteen year old had one shot at a recovery, which he used to climb to twelfth for a 26th placed start.

Notably not making it up to Q2, Jaume Masia will start 21st despite using fellow Red Bull rider Fernandez to help with slipstream on track.

Injuries, replacements and penalties

Despite a five week summer break there are still some paddock absentees with long term injuries.

Matteo Bertelle is out for the rest of the season at QJMotor Avintia Racing Team after suffering a anterior and posterior cruciate knee injury in his Sachsenring fall. His long term replacement is Nicola Carraro (25th).

Joel Kelso is expected back in Austria but for the British Grand Prix he is replaced by Marc Garcia(30th) at CIP Green Power following his crash with Adrian Fernandez last race.

Fernandez (24th on the grid for Red Bull KTM Tech3) has a long lap penalty to serve in the race for his part in that incident, with David Munoz (starting ahead on the grid in 19th for BOE Motorsports) receiving equal punishment for his incident with Jaume Masia.

Ana Carrasco (29th) has also been under the knife in the break, to relieve the pain from her old spinal cord injury.