David Almansa storms to pole position at Mugello

On Sunday’s Grand Prix of Italy, the 20-year-old Spanish rider will start from top spot of the starting grid for the second time this year. His teammate and compatriot David Muñoz rounds out the strong showing by LIQUI MOLY Dynavolt Intact GP’s Moto3 team with seventh place in qualifying.

Round seven of this year’s Moto3 World Championship took teams and riders to Italy’s Tuscany region. After sweltering heat on the day of setup, a thunderstorm on Friday morning brought some much-needed relief from the heat. Due to the brief rain shower, the weekend at the beautiful Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello, not far from the small town of Scarperia, began with a wet Free Practice One.

At a rain-soaked track, David Muñoz and David Almansa avoided taking any unnecessary risks and finished the session in 14th and 22nd place, respectively. By the time Practice session got underway a few hours later early afternoon, the track had dried out completely, which gave the two 20-year-old riders a boost. By finishing in fourth (Muñoz) and sixth (Almansa), both made it directly into Q2.

Under glorious sunshine on Saturday morning, the second free practice session started the day’s action. Muñoz once again matched his performance from the previous day with fourth-fastest lap time. Almansa was just 0.8 seconds off the pace in what was a tight session but still finished in 14th place.

In qualifying, however, Almansa turned the tables. With temperatures at 30 degrees, he set a time of 1:54.862 very early on, a mark that remained unbroken until the end. Just as he did at the season opener in Thailand in early March, Almansa will have a clear view when the starting lights go out at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday.

On the other side, in the German team’s garage, there was also great excitement over Muñoz’s seventh-place finish in qualifying. Following his protracted leg injury, the younger of the two Davids is performing with increasing consistency. Starting from the third row of the grid, he will certainly be a force to be reckoned with in the race.

Moto3™ Qualifying Results:
1 #22 David ALMANSA / SPA / LIQUI MOLY Dynavolt Intact GP / KTM / 1´54.862
2 Hakim DANISH / SPA / AEON Credit - MT Helmets - MSI / MAL / KTM / 1#54.880 +0.018
3 Joel KELSO / GRYD – MLAV Racing / Honda / 1ß54.987 +0.125
…
7 #64 David MUÑOZ / SPA / LIQUI MOLY Dynavolt Intact GP / KTM / 1´55.202 +0.340