2025 Australia Moto3 – Friday practice results

David Almanza found himself in the right position at the right time to lead the way to qualifying with a new record lap at Phillip Island on Friday at the Australian Moto3 Grand Prix, round 19 of the championship.

The track surface was dry, but the wind persisted, and after pushing Leppard to the limit in the opening session, including falling twice, car No. 22 found itself in the group behind new champion Jose Antonio Rueda, achieving a two-car slipstream and setting a new lap record of 1 minute 34.726 seconds.

The Honda rider needs every advantage he can get as he faces a race-day lap penalty after defeating Taiyo Furusato, who hit Alvaro Calpe with a domino fall on the Indonesian gravel.

Teammate Adrian Fernandez was second, with a difference of 0.392 seconds, making him the closest challenger to the No. 22 car.

Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Calpe was the top rookie in third place and improved in the final stages, continuing to lap in 10th place with five minutes to go.

As a result, Ángel Piqueras shuffled back and Frinça – MT Helmets – MSI finished 4th in practice, while Joel Kelso also dropped slightly but was happy to run solo on the track on his way to 5th in Level Up – MTA.

Guido Pini set a best time of sixth place in the Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP, 10 seconds faster than Rueda, who was a solid seventh place in his second appearance with Red Bull Ajo.

Stefano Nepa completed the top 10 behind his teammate, with Aspar’s Máximo Cres in 8th and Luca Lunetta in SIC58 Squadra Corse in 9th.

Jacob Roulston was unable to keep up with his Red Bull KTM Tech 3 time due to technical problems and waited nervously, finishing 11th on the same lap as Nepa.

Honda Team Asia’s Furusato finished 12th after coming out of the pits early to lead his teammate.

The remaining riders to advance to Q2 were substitute rider Joel Esteban in 14th place in place of Aspar’s Dennis Foggia who was suffering from pneumonia, and Ryusei Yamanaka of the MT Helmet Team in 14th place.

Nicola Carraro was the rider who narrowly missed out, but the checkered flag arrived before he had the chance for a final flying lap, so all of the riders behind him also missed out on the chance to improve.

FP1 got off to a slippery start on the wet road, with Tachakorn Buasri (23rd place) falling early. Buasri returned to action with Honda Team Asia after a long injury break and made a quick comeback.

Current Junior GP series leader Brian Uriarte (25th) is replacing David Muñoz, who crashed twice at Almanza and broke his leg after being knocked down by Fernandes in Indonesia.

Just before Esteban slid into the gravel at Turn 2, Cormac Buchanan also crashed at the popular Turn 4.

Fernandez took the lead in the opening session, holding off Quiles, who was the best rookie in the opening session. Almanza finished third despite riding over the limit, Esteban fourth and Kelso fifth, but the unstable conditions left him more than a second behind the lead time.

Eddie O’Shea finished last due to limited laps and bike issues, which also affected his second session, leaving him 17th overall for the MLav Racing Team.