Round 2 of the Moto3™ World Championship got underway on Friday as Red Bull GASGAS Tech3’s Daniel Holgado and Jacob Roulstone began their Grande Prémio Tissot de Portugal campaign at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve. The morning session was disrupted by the damp track conditions following the sandy rain from overnight. A few riders went out, but soon the red flag was shown and the race direction decided to not restart the session. That means the Moto3™ class only had the afternoon’s Practice 1 to get up to speed with the Portuguese rollercoaster.

Luckily, the winner of the 2023 edition of the Portuguese Grand Prix, Daniel Holgado, already had some references with the new 2024 bike and the Pirelli tyres, after the squad completed a two-day test just one month ago on the Portuguese layout. Holgado made it to the top 10 fastest this afternoon, with a 1’48.425 which placed him in P9, although he was still 1.223 seconds away from the fastest. As we expect better track conditions on Saturday morning, the GASGAS Tech3 rider will be looking to make improvements to guarantee his provisional Q2 ticket, before trying to get a front row start in the afternoon’s qualifying shootout.

After a great start to his rookie season two weeks ago in Qatar, Australian boy Jacob Roulstone also returned to Portimao with precious data gathered a month ago during the first test of 2024. The rookie had done two impressive days, and was eager for the action to go underway on the Portuguese rollercoaster. All sessions are key for a rookie, so missing Free Practice was not ideal for the number 12, but he still managed to ride in 1’49.209 this afternoon. That placed him just 2.007 seconds from the top, in P19. He stands 0.417 seconds away from the provisional Q2 tickets, and it is with no doubt that he will target the top 14 tomorrow morning as Moto3™ action resumes at fresh and early at 8:40 local time.