Some people say what happens twice will surely happen a third time. After the Moto3 lap record at Red Bull Ring was shattered twice on Friday, it happened again in Saturday’s second practice session for the Austrian GP, with Joel Kelso emerging as the fastest.
Initially, Iván Ortolá (MT Helmets-MSi/KTM) led the way, briefly losing the top spot to David Muñoz (BOE Motorsports/KTM) before reclaiming it. The two Spaniards exchanged the lead until David Alonso (CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar) took over after about 14 minutes into the session.
Alonso held onto the lead for more than ten minutes before being overtaken by Daniel Holgado (Red Bull GasGas Tech3), who was soon surpassed by Kelso. The BOE Motorsports rider then set an even faster time of 1m39.921s, establishing a new lap record.
Alonso finished second, just 0.087s behind, followed by Collin Veijer (Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP), Ángel Piqueras (Leopard Racing/Honda), and Holgado rounding out the top five. Several riders failed to improve from their times on Friday, including the leader of the first practice session, José Antonio Rueda (Red Bull KTM Ajo), who ended up third overall in the combined standings.
In the battle for direct qualification to the second qualifying, Matteo Bertelle (Kopron Rivacold Snipers/Honda) secured the 14th spot and the final place, narrowly edging out Taiyo Furusato (Honda Team Asia), who missed out by just 0.009s.
Timesheets:
Naranjito comes out on top in #Moto3 P2! ⚡️@joelkelso66 leads Alonso and Rueda after setting a new lap record at the Red Bull Ring ⏱️#AustrianGP 🇦🇹 pic.twitter.com/Wtw5NixtBN
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) August 17, 2024
