Qualifying Overview
Diogo Moreira clinched pole position at the very end of qualifying, enhancing his chances in the intermediate title race as he takes the top spot on the grid for the Portuguese Grand Prix at Portimao, the twenty-first round of the championship. His main competitor, Manuel Gonzalez, will start from eighth place.
Moreira, riding for Italtrans, initially aimed for a front row start in third. However, during the final sector of the Algarve track, he delivered an impressive lap that propelled him to pole with a record time of 1m 41.168s.
This achievement marks Moreira’s seventh pole of the season, matching Gonzalez’s record for Saturday’s performance. He strategically used David Alonso, who was ahead on the track, as a reference point.
Moreira’s performance allowed him to surpass Jake Dixon, who had led the session for a significant duration. Dixon’s time also fell below the previous record set by Aron Canet earlier in the weekend. A crash towards the end of the session caused some disruption for Dixon, who managed to return for a final push but ended just 0.017s slower than Moreira.
Collin Veijer emerged as the top rookie, finishing in third place after briefly climbing to second late in the session, only to be displaced by a new record lap from Red Bull KTM Ajo.
Barry Baltus secured fourth place, being the leading Fantic rider, while his teammate Aron Canet finished in fifth after experiencing a late fall that affected his performance.
Manuel Gonzalez faced a challenging qualifying session. With only nine points separating him from Moreira, this session was vital as he was relegated to eighth after red sectors in his final attempt, hindered by yellow flags caused by Canet’s incident.
