David Almansa takes pole position once again

After a four-day hospital stay due to tonsillitis, the 20-year-old Spanish rider made an impressive return to his bike. On Saturday, Almansa narrowly edged out the competition in a thrilling qualifying session for the Hungarian Grand Prix. For David Muñoz, however, his time attack ended disappointingly with an early crash and no timed laps.
 
For round eight of the current Moto3 World Championship, all teams and riders travelled within a few days from Tuscany, in the heart of Italy, to Hungary, to the popular tourist region around Lake Balaton. Qualifying took place early Saturday afternoon under excellent conditions, with plenty of sunshine and warm temperatures.

The two Moto3 riders in LIQUI MOLY Dynavolt Intact GP, David Almansa and David Muñoz, were in top form right from the first minute of practices at the twisty Balaton Park Circuit. However, the spotlight was on David Almansa who had only been discharged from a hospital in Alicante on Thursday morning and immediately set off for Hungary.

By setting the fastest time in Free Practice 1 on Friday morning, he immediately made it clear that he was back in top form. He confirmed this shortly after noon during Practice session with a third-place finish, which was also his result in the second free practice session on Saturday morning. In Q2, his first fast lap was cancelled. However, that didn’t seem to faze him much, as Almansa was actually a few tenths of a second faster on the following lap. His 1´45.686 remained unbeatable despite a fierce final push by championship leader Maximo Quiles.

After being unable to compete in last Sunday’s race due to illness — and thus unable to capitalize on his pole position there — Almansa’s joy and immense relief were clearly evident in Parc Fermé.

Teammate David Muñoz lacked that little bit of luck in qualifying, even though he had fortunately emerged unscathed from a heavy crash. With practice results of 3rd, 4th, and 2nd place in FP2, he had also established himself as one of the favourites for pole position in Hungary. However, a cancelled lap and a highside in the final sector threw a wrench in the 20-year-old’s plans.

After the crash, it took a while for his motorcycle to be back to the team’s garage. Despite the mechanics’ best efforts to get the bike race-ready as quickly as possible and send Muñoz back out on the track, time ran out for the Spanish rider, as he crossed the start-finish line just one second after the end of practice time and was unable to complete a flying lap. Muñoz will start tomorrow’s race from the sixth row.

The race starts on Sunday at the usual time of 11:00 a.m. CEST.

Moto3™ Qualifying Results:
1 #22 David ALMANSA / SPA / LIQUI MOLY Dynavolt Intact GP / KTM / 1´45.686
2 Maximo QULIES / SPA / Aspar Team / KTM / 1´45.750 +0..64
3 Brian URIARTE / SPA / Red Bull KTM Ajo / KTM / 1´45.323 +0.637
…
17 #64 David MUÑOZ / SPA / LIQUI MOLY Dynavolt Intact GP / KTM