MADRID, 17 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Spanish rider Iván Ortolá (KTM) took pole position in the Moto3 category for the Austrian Grand Prix on Saturday, the eleventh round of the World Motorcycle Championship, the second in a row, while Spanish-Colombian David Alonso (CFMoto), current leader of the World Championship, completed the second row and will start from sixth place on the Sunday grid at the Red Bull Ring Circuit.
Ortolá pushed until the final seconds to complete the best lap of the session, with a time of 1:40.057, with the riders unable to go below that 1:39. The Spaniard, who already achieved pole position and victory on Sunday two weeks ago at Silverstone, beat Australian Joel Kelso (KTM) and Dutchman Collin Veijer (Husqvarna), both a tenth of a second behind the Valencian.
This pole position adds spice to the World Championship, as Ortolá will start from a very favourable position to continue to reduce the gap on David Alonso, who will have to fight back from sixth place to fight with the Spaniard and prevent him from taking another bite out of the title. The Spanish-Colombian, with a 53-point advantage over the Valencian, was almost three tenths off the best time, after trying an alternative strategy.
Daniel Holgado (KTM), who will start fourth, was the fastest in Q2 until he was overtaken by Kelso, who was then overtaken by Ortolá at the limit, taking advantage of the slipstream of the group. Although not as fast as José Antonio Rueda, who crashed on the last corner of his attempt and finished with the fifth best time, two tenths behind Ortolá.