Image: Supplied.

The pace of Joel Kelso was once again on display at Catalunya as he notched another top-three qualifying position, but the CFMOTO PruestelGP rider has identified the need to be more aggressive in race situations to improve his end result.

Third in Q2 on Saturday in Barcelona marked Kelso’s fourth front-row performance of the season, and the Australian ran inside the top five across the opening laps of Sunday’s encounter.

Shortly after, an incident coming out of the last corner pushed Kelso well back and he ultimately finished the race in 18th position. Despite his front-running speed being evident at multiple circuits, Kelso – who did miss Argentina and America with injury – has been unable to match his career-best Moto3 race result this year, his strongest being Phillip Island last season where he was P8. That said, the number 66 has finished P9 at both the 2023 Portuguese GP and Dutch TT.

“I need to improve,” said Kelso. “I lost eight positions by being hit out on the last corner but struggled to recover from that. I need to figure out how to race better at this level and the results will instantly change. People can see that I have the pace and the speed and I just need to make that breakthrough.

“Yes, I was in the wrong place at the wrong time but I had only seven laps to show what I can do. I should have stayed right at the front. I want to thank the people that believe in me because our time will come.”

Kelso’s next chance to improve his race result comes this weekend at Misano, the San Marino GP marking the 12th round of the 2023 Moto3 World Championship.