British Moto3: Masia on pole after late yellow flag drama

Jaume Masia held on as faster laps were cancelled for yellow flag infringements in qualifying for the British Moto3 race at Silverstone.

Lisa Lewis

05 Aug 2023

Jaume Masia, Moto3, British MotoGP 5 August

Jaume Masia made sure he had got in a fast lap before the rain returned to cause a controversial end to the Q2 session for the British Moto3 race, round nine of the championship.

The session began with chunks cut out of the lap times, with first Ivan Ortola, then Stefano Nepa, Joel Kelso and championship leader Daniel Holgado taking out seconds at a time.

Seeing what was possible Leopard rider Masia hit the front. The Assen winner arrived with the top time in the dry on Friday and went on to drop his best on the Honda to a final 2m 25.072s.

That time was under attack as the final flying laps came in - with the live timing confusingly not showing the laps cancelled but with old positions next to the new bests.

That saw VisionTrack’s Scott Ogden set the fatsest run in the session - a 2m 24.377s - good enough for a home pole, but his place on the timesheets remained unchanged at second (and a 0.363s gap back to Masia based on his previous best attack).

The two riders who caused the late yellow flags - Taiyo Furusato and Holgado, walked off uninjured together after both exiting at the final sector.

Holgado had already banked a time good enough for third for Red Bull KTM Tech3. That places both title contenders on the front row, with Masia scoring just his second pole of the season.

Riccardo Rossi put in a late charge before the chaos to climb to fourth for SIC58 Squadra Corse.

Joel Kelso is having his first run at Silverstone, after missing the round last season. At home instantly, he made his way through Q1 and the extra track time seemed to pay off. Acclimatised to the damp track and changable conditions he rode confidently for fifth for CFMoto Racing PruestelGP.

Ayumu Sasaki set the sixth best time for Liqui Moly Husqvarna, with early pace-setter Ortola seventh for the Angeluss MTA Team.

Deniz Oncu spent much of the session in last before his final run after the yellow flags saw him last to take the chequered flag and able to climb to eighth for Red Bull KTM Ajo.

Tatsuki Suzuki was another rider to have his late lap not count, leaving the second Leopard entry in ninth, with Stefano Nepa chasing around Filippo Fariloli for a top ten start.

The Tech3 rider will start one place further back in eleventh after coming through Q1.

2022 pole sitter Diogo Moreira struggled and finished the session 17th for MT Helmets- MSI.

What happened in Q1?

Xavier Artigas lead the way through by almost half a second, having entered Q1 after his Friday fall left him last overall in practice. A mechanical at the start of Q2 saw his track time limited, but his CFMoto mechanics got him out for a late run allowing him to claim 12th.

He was joined in Q2 by Taiyo Furusato (18th), Joel Kelso, who was on course for the fastest lap, had the session not ended under a yellow flag and Filippo Farioli, with the rookie advancing for the first time.

That meant the much fancied Ryusei Yamanaka missed out. The Gaviota GasGas rider had his lap - which would have seen him into the top four cancelled by the same late incident - cancelled leaving him fifth, for ninteenth on the grid.

Mario Aji was also in the mix as his skill in the damp once again saw him rise to the occasion for Honda Team Asia, but was also unlucky to miss out, so will line up 20th.

The second Brit in the lighweight class, Joshua Whatley will fill 24th on the second VisionTrack entry.

The fall which cancelled those late laps belonged to Lorenzo Salvador, off at the final corner.

Lorenzo Fellon was first to crash after a strong run in the horrendously wet FP3, leaving him 25th on his return from injury.

David Munoz was 14th in the session for 27th on the grid as he struggled with the tricky conditions, crashing twice in Q1. David Alonso came off at Club and took an age to get off the track with the marshals. Leaving him last with no flying lap set.