Veijer grabs 1st row for the 4th consecutive time in Thailand
In the Qualifying at the Chang International Circuit in Thailand, the LIQUI MOLY Husqvarna Intact GP Moto3 rider Collin Veijer took a strong second place on the grid for the penultimate overseas race of the season! Team-mate Tatsuki Suzuki secured a grid position full of points potential on row seven.
It seems as if Collin Veijer is making second place on the grid his regular starting position after the Dutchman has already started directly behind pole position in the past three races. The 19-year-old crossed the finish line just 0.073s behind pole setter Joel Kelso. The improvement that last year's rookie made on the way to this strong qualifying session once again sets the current third in the world championship apart, because after Friday Veijer spoke of "still a lot of work" after seventh position in free practice and fifth in P2, but he did it together with his well-working crew, because his gap from P9 in Practice 2 was only 0.333s, which already gave a foretaste of the tight Q2, for which he qualified directly and finished a strong second. For the hot 19-lap race at 06:00 (CET), the rider of the German racing team is hoping to score maximum points in order to reclaim the provisional runner-up position in the riders championship.
On the other hand, team-mate Tatsuki Suzuki also had a lot to work on. After 14th place in free practice and a P19 in the first official practice session, the 26-year-old was aware of his mammoth task for Saturday and even though his 1'41.149 in P2 on Saturday morning represented a significant improvement to Friday, it was not enough for the Japanese rider to make it directly into Q2 in the end. With an air temperature of 30°C and humidity of over 70%, the 15-minute Q1 session was certainly not easy for man and machine. His time from the morning would have been enough to progress, but Suzuki was unable to elicit further tenths from his Husqvarna despite the good work, which meant 20th place on the grid in row seven for him.
Results
FP
1. David ALONSO/ COL/ CFMOTO – 1'40.544
2. Angel PIQUERAS/ SPA/ HONDA – 1'41.069 (+0.525)
3. Adrian FERNANDEZ/ SPA/ HONDA – 1'41.162 (+0.618)
7. Collin VEIJER/ NED/ HUSQVARNA – 1'41.545 (+1.001)
14.Tatsuki SUZUKI/ JPN/ HUSQVARNA – 1'41.907 (+1.363)
P1
1. David ALONSO/ COL/ CFMOTO – 1'40.703
2. Joel KELSO/ AUS/ KTM – 1'41.088 (+0.385)
3. Adrian FERNANDEZ/ SPA/ HONDA – 1'41.156 (+0.453)
5. Collin VEIJER/ NED/ HUSQVARNA – 1'41.290 (+0.587)
19.Tatsuki SUZUKI/ JPN/ HUSQVARNA – 1'41.803 (+1.100)
P2
1. Taiyo FURUSATO/ JPN/ HONDA – 1'40.577
2. Ivan ORTOLA/ SPA/ KTM – 1'40.699 (+0.122)
3. Joel KELSO/ AUS/ KTM – 1'40.738 (+0.161)
9. Collin VEIJER/ NED/ HUSQVARNA – 1'40.910 (+0.333)
17.Tatsuki SUZUKI/ JPN/ HUSQVARNA – 1'41.149 (+0.572)
Q1
1. Filippo FARIOLI/ ITA/ HONDA – 1'41.241
2. Matteo BERTELLE/ ITA/ HONDA – 1'41.261 (+0.020)
3. Joel ESTEBAN/ SPA/ CFMOTO – 1'41.315 (+0.074)
6. Tatsuki SUZUKI/ JPN/ HUSQVARNA – 1'41.562 (+0.321)
Q2
1. Joel KELSO/ AUS/ KTM – 1'40.603
2. Collin VEIJER/ NED/ HUSQVARNA – 1'40.676 (+0.073)
3. Angel PIQUERAS/ SPA/ HONDA – 1'40.727 (+0.124)
