Sic58’s Tatsuki Suzuki claimed a hard-fought pole position in Moto3 Qualifying at Jerez this afternoon with a 1’45.807 lap.

Fending off Jeremy Alcoba and record-holder Andrea Migno, the Japanese rider led the way for the majority of the session with dubious strategies once again defeating half the field in the closing seconds. John McPhee completed a strong Q2 with the sixth fastest time, leaving the Petronas rider on the edge of row two for Sunday’s Spanish GP.

Moto3 qualifying got underway with the rider of the season, Pedro Acosta, having to make his bid for a place in the pole shootout from the opening 15-minute session thanks to a turn-six crash in FP3.

Andi Farid Izdihar led the way as Q1 got up to speed, Stefano Nepa, Max Kofler and Izan Guevara claiming the early promotion places as Riccardo Rossi and Dennis Foggia began their challenges from fifth and sixth respectably. Acosta’s opening shot placed him eighth overall, six-tenths from Izdihar’s benchmark with Sergio Garcia and Carlos Tatay for company as the pack entered pitlane.

The final five minutes saw Tatay the first to head back out, the Avintia rider circulating alone as he waited for the field to regroup around him with the main action not resuming until the closing two minutes.

Tatay took the lead with a 1’46.388 with time left for another shot as the remaining 13 riders began their one and only chances. The Spaniard failed to improve on his earlier effort as he found the flag, a waiting game ensuing as the standings began to flicker and the hot-laps finally registered. Acosta took control thanks to his 1’46.138 lap, Guevara, Tatay and Jeremy Alcoba claiming the final upgrades. Ryusei Yamanaka, Izdihar, Garcia and Adrian Fernandez were the first to miss out on the second session with Foggia, Rossi, Nepa, Kaito Toba, Kofler and Lorenzo Fellon completing the Q1 standings.

The top-18 shootout started with Tatsuki Suzuki in early contention after the first laps were recorded, Andrea Migno narrowly behind the Japanese 1’45.979 effort with Darryn Binder and John McPhee battling for third - the Scot winning out by a tenth in the opening contest. Niccolò Antonelli took fifth next time around as Binder lost his Petronas on another hot-lap after a fast highside left his SRT Honda barrel-rolling through the gravel trap at turn seven, rider okay.

Gabriel Rodrigo began the final five minutes in sixth place from Deniz Öncü and Filip Salac with Jason Dupasquier sandwiched between the KTM’s of Acosta and Jame Masia for 10th. Alcoba sat 12th from Romano Fenati, Tatay, Xavier Artigas and Guevara with Yuki Kunii and Ayumu Sasaki completing the set as the final runs prepared - the usual nervous wait preceding the pack hitting the track as one, once again.

Sasaki and Öncü worked in tandem as the Tech3 riders claimed fifth and seventh respectively, with the pair crossing the line before the flag came out. A number of riders, however, fell foul of bad timing for another weekend, with Antonelli, Salac, Dupasquier and Masia among the riders falling to advance their times.

Suzuki secured the pole thanks to his third lap of the afternoon with Alcoba and Migno joining the Sic58 rider on the front row for Sunday’s 22-lap contest, Rodrigo, Fenati and McPhee will line up behind on the row two. Binder maintained seventh despite his fast crash ahead of Sasaki and Antonelli with Öncü, Guevara and Salac completing the top-12. Acosta starts his fourth race in the class from 13th with Dupasquier and teammate Masia for company while Tatay, Artigas and Kunii concluded the top-18.