Fernandez fastest heading into Moto3™ qualifying

Thanks to his 2:04.577 in FP2 at the QNB Grand Prix of Qatar, Raul Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) leads the Moto3™ field heading into qualifying. No improvements were made to trouble the top 14 riders so it’s as you were at the end of Friday’s running, meaning Darryn Binder (CIP Green Power) and Sergio Garcia (Estrella Galicia 0,0) complete the Free Practice combined top three.

With track conditions far from ideal in the Qatari sun, only Jose Julian Garcia (SIC58 Squadra Corse) – replacement for the injured Niccolo Antonelli this weekend – had improved his time from Friday. Dennis Foggia (Leopard Racing) then clocked his personal best lap of the weekend, but that was only good enough to get the Italian up to P19 on the combined times. Pushing to find time, 2019 Qatar GP winner Kaito Toba (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and Rivacold Snipers Team’s Filip Salač crashed separately – riders ok.

The last five minutes saw the entire grid head out together in search of either keeping their place in the top 14, or penetrating it. But it was to no avail, the standings were pretty much unchanged from Friday, with Fernandez your fastest man in FP3 too. The Spaniard looks like the man to beat heading into qualifying and behind the front trio remains Ai Ogura (Honda Team Asia) and Toba.

You won’t want to miss Q1 at 17:05 local time (GMT+3) as there are some big name riders looming below the top 14. Tatsuki Suzuki (SIC58 Squadra Corse), Gabriel Rodrigo (Kömmerling Gresini Moto3) and Albert Arenas (Aspar Team) are just three names who will be battling it out in the first qualifying session of 2020.

Top 10 combined:
1. Raul Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) – 2:04.577
2. Darryn Binder (CIP Green Power) + 0.121
3. Sergio Garcia (Estrella Galicia 0,0) + 0.146
4. Ai Ogura (Honda Team Asia) + 0.345
5. Kaito Toba (Red Bull KTM Ajo) + 0.411
6. Tony Arbolino (Rivacold Snipers Team) + 0.650
7. Andrea Migno (SKY Racing Team VR46) + 0.710
8. Jaume Masia (Leopard Racing) + 0.755
9. Romano Fenati (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team) + 0.771
10. Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) + 0.778

Click here for the full results!