Fermin Aldeguer stormed to pole position at Phillip Island, setting a new all-time lap record with the first-ever 1’30 intermediate class lap in Australia. His 1:30.876 saw him lead an all-Spanish top four, with Aron Canet and Alonso Lopez completing the front row.
Qualifying kicked off with Senna Agius, posting a then-all-time-lap-record time of 1:31.586 to secure a spot in Q2 alongside Dennis Foggia, Ayumu Sasaki, and Barry Baltus.
In Q2, Aldeguer steadily built up his pace before launching a solo attack with 10 minutes to go.
Aron Canet initially looked like a strong contender, coming within 0.196 seconds of Aldeguer’s time after narrowly missing out on breaking into the 1’30s, but wasn’t able to challenge Fermin Aldeguer’s lap record pace as the session concluded. Marcos Ramirez sealed P3 for American Racing and completed the front row.
Having been near the top of the timesheet in the early parts of Q2, Agius wasn’t able to significantly improve, finishing down in 13th.
With just over a minute left on the clock, Izan Guevara, suffered a late crash, triggering yellow flags and denying many pole position contenders their last Q2 time attack.
The incident marked a tough end to the day for the former Moto3 champion, who ultimately ended the session in 18th place.
