2026 Australian Moto3 - Practice Results

The first day of Moto3 action at Phillip Island saw Alvaro Carpe post the fastest time to lead the riders moving directly to Q2 in qualifying, ahead of the Australian Grand Prix.

The Red Bull KTM Ajo rider headed out on track with the other Red Bull bikes at the start of the session, but it was a late solo lap that took the Spanish rider to the top of the timesheets, leading the riders heading straight to the second qualifying session with a 1’ 35.292s lap.

• Phillip Island MotoGP LIVE: Friday practice updates

Local rider Joel Kelso came closest to his time, finishing as top Honda, just 0.026s slower for GRYD Racing.

The early top three was completed by newly crowned champion, Maximo Quiles, with the Aspar rider returning for a personal best after a long race simulation style run.

David Almansa was fourth quickest for Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP, just quicker than a much improved Scott Ogden who was fifth in the second session for CIP Green Power.

Rico Salmela was also heading in the right direction, the top rookie for Red Bull KTM Tech3 after moving from 19th to sixth ahead heading into the final five minutes of the session.

Matteo Bertelle was seventh for Level Up - MTA, ahead of David Munoz, who was a late faller from his Dynavolt bike, but held on to eighth place.

Brian Uriarte was ninth fastest on the second Ajo bike, with a late push into the progression places moving Kiattisak Singhapong into the top ten, indicating why he was trusted with the Rivacold Snipers seat for the rest of the season.

Joel Esteban placed 11th in the session on the second Level Up bike, ahead of Adrian Fernandez, the best of the Leopard riders, in 12th.

The final two Q2 progression places went to Valentin Perrone on the Tech3 bike in 13th and Ryusei Yamanaka for MT Helmets in 14th.

All the riders making forward progress meant some of those making a bright start went in the other direction, with Eddie O’Shea 15th and into Q1 after failing to match his lap time from the earlier morning session.

Cormac Buchanan remains out of action at Code Motorsports after failing his medical check on Thursday. Moto3 Junior Championship rider Marianos Nikolis is handed the seat for the weekend, for a home grand prix debut, placing 26th.

There were several other fallers in Practice, with Nikolis, Hakim Danish, and Guido Pini all joining Munoz in making a trip into the gravel.

Moto3 Practice times:

Official Australian Moto3 Records:
Fastest race lap: Alvaro Carpe (2025) 1’ 35.323s
Best Pole: Joel Kelso (2025) 1’ 34.056s
All-time lap record: Joel Kelso (2025) 1’ 34.056s

Free Practice 1

There were several riders leading over the course on the 35 minute session, with Quiles just fitting in a final lap, which returned him to first in the session.

The Aspar rider took over from rookie Uriarte who was just 0.086s slower with a personal best from his team-mate Carpe seeing him finish the session inside the top three.

Behind the KTM trio, the early top five was completed by by GRYD Racing’s Honda duo, home rider Kelso in fourth, with O’Shea in fifth and the last rider within half a second of the best time.

There was only one faller in the session, with Casey O’Gorman in the gravel at turn three.

FP1 times can be found below.

Moto3 FP1 times: