Aron Canet starts from pole position in tomorrow’s Indonesian Grand Prix at Mandalika, for his second pole position of the year. The Spanish rider is joined by his countryman Manuel Gonzales and Czechia’s Filip Salac on the front row.
Third third-placed man in the championship, Jake Dixon, had to go through the first qualifying session after not setting fast enough time in the combined practice times. He set the fastest time in the first part of the session, a 1:34.406, and this was fast enough for him to feel comfortable enough to come into the pits before the end of the session.
And he was right to do so as that time was enough for him to finish the session in first place. He was joined in Q2 by Alonso Lopez, Jeremy Alcoba, and Bo Bendsneyder.
The green light went out for Q2 a few minutes later and all the riders left their pit boxes to get a feel of the circuit once more.
Following the first timed runs, Gonzalez was at the top of the timesheets with a 1:34.282, from Somkitat Chantra who was fresh off a win in Japan, and Canet. The Pons Wegow Los40 rider then took over the top spot with a 1:34.155 at the halfway point.
Talking about early benchmarks!🔥@18ManuGonzalez sets the bar high already and goes on provisional pole! ⏱️#IndonesianGP 🇮🇩 pic.twitter.com/uqzp6ggUKY
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) October 14, 2023
No rider was able to beat this time set by Canet, even though many riders were finding time in sectors towards the end of the session, they could not string them together.
Aron Canet clinches pole in Mandalika! 👏
That's his 2nd one of the season 💪#IndonesianGP 🇮🇩 pic.twitter.com/C2xc2INtQu
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) October 14, 2023
Championship leader Pedro Acosta starts in fourth place, ahead of Fermin Aldeguer and Chantra who join him on row two. Dixon heads up row three ahead of Sam Lowes and Zonta van der Goorbergh. The rider in second place in the championship, Tony Arbolino, starts tomorrow’s race in tenth place.
Feature image credit: SoloMoto.es
| 2023 INDONESIAN MOTO2 GRAND PRIX, MANDALIKA – QUALIFYING RESULTS | |||||
| POS | RIDER | NAT | TEAM | BIKE | TIME |
| 1 | Aron Canet | SPA | Pons Wegow Los40 | (Kalex) | 1m 34.155s |
| 2 | Manuel Gonzalez | SPA | Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 | (Kalex) | 1m 34.158s |
| 3 | Filip Salac | CZE | QJMOTOR Gresini Moto2 | (Kalex) | 1m 34.174s |
| 4 | Pedro Acosta | SPA | Red Bull KTM Ajo | (Kalex) | 1m 34.198s |
| 5 | Fermín Aldeguer | SPA | Beta Tools SpeedUp | (Boscoscuro) | 1m 34.226s |
| 6 | Somkiat Chantra | THA | IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia | (Kalex) | 1m 34.316s |
| 7 | Jake Dixon | GBR | Inde GASGAS Aspar Team | (Kalex) | 1m 34.344s |
| 8 | Sam Lowes | GBR | Elf Marc VDS Racing Team | (Kalex) | 1m 34.382s |
| 9 | Zonta Vd Goorbergh | NED | Fieten Olie Racing GP | (Kalex) | 1m 34.388s |
| 10 | Tony Arbolino | ITA | Elf Marc VDS Racing Team | (Kalex) | 1m 34.411s |
| 11 | Joe Roberts | USA | Italtrans Racing Team | (Kalex) | 1m 34.529s |
| 12 | Sergio Garcia | SPA | Pons Wegow Los40 | (Kalex) | 1m 34.573s |
| 13 | Bo Bendsneyder | NED | Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team | (Kalex) | 1m 34.604s |
| 14 | Albert Arenas | SPA | Red Bull KTM Ajo | (Kalex) | 1m 34.613s |
| 15 | Jeremy Alcoba | SPA | QJMOTOR Gresini Moto2 | (Kalex) | 1m 34.774s |
| 16 | Dennis Foggia | ITA | Italtrans Racing Team | (Kalex) | 1m 34.788s |
| 17 | Marcos Ramirez | SPA | OnlyFans American Racing | (Kalex) | 1m 34.983s |
| 18 | Alonso Lopez | SPA | Beta Tools SpeedUp | (Boscoscuro) | 1m 35.084s |
| 19 | Ai Ogura | JPN | IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia | (Kalex) | 1m 34.732s |
| 20 | Darryn Binder | RSA | Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP | (Kalex) | 1m 34.762s |
| 21 | Alex Escrig | SPA | Forward Team | (Forward) | 1m 34.781s |
| 22 | Alberto Surra | ITA | Forward Team | (Forward) | 1m 34.795s |
| 23 | Barry Baltus | BEL | Fieten Olie Racing GP | (Kalex) | 1m 34.984s |
| 24 | Taiga Hada | JPN | Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team | (Kalex) | 1m 35.105s |
| 25 | Lorenzo Baldassarri | ITA | Fantic Racing | (Kalex) | 1m 35.163s |
| 26 | Lukas Tulovic | GER | Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP | (Kalex) | 1m 35.293s |
| 27 | Izan Guevara | SPA | Inde GASGAS Aspar Team | (Kalex) | 1m 35.352s |
| 28 | Rory Skinner | GBR | OnlyFans American Racing | (Kalex) | 1m 35.412s |
| 29 | Kohta Nozane | JPN | Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 | (Kalex) | 1m 35.437s |
| 30 | Mattia Casadei | ITA | Fantic Racing | (Kalex) | 1m 35.839s |