The Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 Moto3™ squad kicked off the Motul Grand Prix of Japan action on Friday morning in cloudy and rainy conditions, a climate quite different, the least we can say, to the hot and humid Lombok island just one week ago. Daniel Holgado and Jacob Roulstone both completed Free Practice and Practice 1 as they got their first feeling on the Mobility Resort Motegi.

In-form Daniel Holgado was excited to return to Motegi after two strong rounds in both Misano 2 and Mandalika, but the tricky track conditions of the morning weren’t ideal to get the right feeling going. In Free Practice, Holgado’s best in 2’04.359 placed him in 18th of the opening session, a time that he was able to improve later on in the afternoon to 1’56.493. He closed day one of action in Japan for the thirteenth time, and he will have to defend his provisional Q2 place as the action resumes on Saturday morning at 8:40 local time.

Australian Jacob Roulstone was excited for a new week and new opportunities after an average Indonesian Grand Prix campaign. The rookie appeared to enjoy the wet conditions of the morning’s Free Practice, and the best of his fifteen laps was a 2’05.104. Later in the afternoon, track conditions were a bit better leaving room for riders to get a better feeling. Jacob improved to 1'57.815, but the feeling overall was not positive for the Australian, who will need to find solutions tonight if he wants to qualify well.