Image: Supplied.

Strong pace was displayed by CFMOTO Pruestel GP’s Joel Kelso throughout the first half of the Moto3 World Championship race in Indonesia, and the Australian will ‘keep pushing forwards’ following that outing where he suffered from feeling unwell in the latter stages.

Kelso scored a spot directly into qualifying two on Saturday with the 11th quickest time in practice, and secured a P13 starting position for Sunday’s race with a 1m39.813 – 0.728s from pole-setter Diogo Moreira (MT Helmets – MSI).

The number 66 made a solid start to the race and worked his way forward to P8 by lap four. He remained in touch with the lead group until lap 10, where it was difficult to maintain lap times within the 1m39s bracket. Kelso ultimately finished the race in P16, less than half a second shy of the points and revealed he wasn’t feeling so well as the race wore on.

“A good weekend here, even if I didn’t feel really fast all the way through,” said Kelso. “The first half of the race was good and we ran the pace of the leaders. It was a good step. With a few laps to go I wasn’t feeling so well. It was a super-hard race in the end and the conditions were tough.

“We’ll keep pushing forwards. I know what I am capable of, and we need to keep the momentum up. I’m excited now for next week and there are a lot of races coming along.”

Next up is the Australian GP this weekend, and Kelso – who previously revealed his future is uncertain beyond the 2023 season – can draw confidence that his career-best result of P8 in the category came at Phillip Island last year.