The Moto3 riders were faced with tricky conditions in their two qualifying sessions for the Australian Grand Prix, as localised rain showers meant that the Phillip Island track had both wet and dry patches to challenge the riders.

With the threat of rain in the air, it was important for the riders to get an early banker lap in when Q1 got underway. It was a brace of Honda riders that dominated early on, with Veda Pratama (Honda Team Asia), Casey O’Gorman (SIC58 Squadra Corse), Eddie O’Shea (GRYD Racing) and Leo Rammerstorfer (SIC58 Squadra Corse) challenging for the top four positions.

As the track evolved throughout the session, the times continued to improve until the very end of the session, where Leopard Racing’s Guido Pini ended up setting the fastest lap. O’Gorman, O’Shea and Pratama helped to make it a Honda sweep of the promotion places. Rammerstorfer ended the opening session in seventh place, with Zen Mitani (Honda Team Asia) in eighth place and Jesus Rios (Rivacold Snipers Team) in tenth.

A few spots of rain started to appear ahead of Q2 getting underway, and with the threat of conditions worsening riders were quick to take to the circuit to get a time on the board. Home-hero Joel Kelso (GRYD Racing) topped the times for much of the session, but it was Pratama that managed to find more time around Phillip Island and claim his maiden Moto3 pole position, which is also the first for an Indonesian rider. Kelso will join him on the front row in third.

Just behind, O’Shea and Adrian Fernandez (Leopard Racing) will be lining up on the second row of the grid in fifth and sixth places respectively, while Pini and Kiattisak Singhapong (Rivacold Snipers Team) will be one row behind them in eighth and ninth. Unfortunately, O’Gorman couldn’t find the time he was hoping for and will start tomorrow’s race from 15^th on the grid.

Tomorrow’s Moto3 race will be run across 21 laps of the Phillip Island circuit and will get underway at 11am local time.