Pole positions decided for season opener

Perfect conditions greeted the riders for the long-awaited opening round of the 2020 FIM CEV Repsol season at Estoril

The opening pole position in FIM Moto3™ JWCh went to David Salvador (Cuna de Campeones) whose time of 1:44.591 in the first qualifying session went unbeaten in the afternoon. Pedro Acosta (MT-Foundation 77) came within a tenth of a second of his first ever pole, qualifying second, with Diogo Moreira (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Junior Team), the only Brazilian rider in the field, claiming third on the grid for his first ever race in the class.

José Julián García (SIC 58 Squadra Corse) starts fourth ahead of another impressive rookie in Adrián Fernández (Laglisse Academy) with Gerard Riu (AGR Team) qualifying sixth overall despite topping the second qualifying session. Xavier Artigas (Leopard Impala Junior), one of the pre-season favourites, was seventh quickest and has 2019 HETC winner Izan Guevara (Openbank Aspar Team) alongside him on row three.

In the Moto2™ ECh, Yari Montella (Team Ciatti - Speed Up) followed up his strong free practice performance by topping qualifying overall. The Italian finished three tenths clear of Niki Tuuli (Team Stylobike) who topped Q2 but couldn™t challenge Montella in the combined classification. However, a six-place grid penalty for slow sectors will relegate Montella to seventh for Race 1, promoting Tuuli to pole. Alessandro Zaccone (Promoracing) was the third fastest qualifier ahead of Lukas Tulovic (Kiefer Racing, with Xavi Cardelús (Team Stylobike) and Piotr Biesiekirski (Team Stylobike) completing the top six.

Fermin Aldeguer (Fau 55 Tey Racing) was the leading Superstock 600 rider on his debut in the category, with an impressive display ensuring the 15-year-old qualified seventh overall after graduating from the HETC.

In the HETC itself, David Alonso (Openbank Aspar Team) grabbed his first ever pole position at the same circuit he took his debut podium in 2019. The Colombian rider dominated free practice before setting the pace in both qualifying sessions, despite a crash on Monday morning. His 1:47.464 put him half a second clear of rookie Ángel Piqueras (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Junior Team) with Zonta van der Goorbergh (Team SuperB) rounding out the front row. Alberto Ferrández (Cuna de Campeones) starts his first ever HETC race from the front of row two with Iván Ortolá (Openbank Aspar Team) fifth on the grid as he looks to repeat his double win of 2019.

The schedule for Tuesday's races is as follows (GMT +1):

HETC Race 1 (16 laps) 11.00 h
Moto2™ ECh Race 1 (18 laps) 12.00 h
FIM Moto3™ JWCh (17 laps) 13.00 h
HETC Race 2 (16 laps) 14.00 h
Moto2™ ECh Race 2 (18 laps) 15.00 h