After a full week of hot and humid sun in Buriram, the rain came to disrupt the party of the PT Grand Prix of Thailand on Sunday, and spice things up (as if it was needed in Moto3™). With a track a bit damp from the morning rain showers, and some small drops of rain on the grid, the tyre choice was a tricky one to make for many riders, including Red Bull GASGAS Tech3’s Daniel Holgado and Jacob Roulstone. It was also decided by the race direction to reduce the Moto3™ race to 12 laps according to the rules book.

Set to start in P7 on the grid after showing great confidence all weekend on the dry, things were going to be a bit different today for Daniel Holgado, as a drying track with small rain drops awaited him. Opting for the slick tyres, the #96 did not take an ideal start and dropped two positions in the opening lap to P10, and two more in the next lap to find himself in 12th behind Ryusei Yamanaka. The first laps were tricky to manage and to adapt to, and it took Dani a few laps to set into a more confident race pace, but by then he had dropped down to P15 on lap 6, 6.7 seconds to the race leader, a quite unusual position for the Spaniard. With his pace getting better in the second half of the race, Dani progressively closed the gap on his rivals ahead, but he was also helped by the crashes ahead in the two last laps to see the checkered flag in P12, and score four points. Not the result expected for the Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 leader, but he remains second in the championship, with a now reduced-gap of 11 points on Colin Veijer, and 21 points on Ivan Ortola.

The conditions of the day were not easy to manage for Moto3™ rookie Jacob Roulstone who faced a difficult tyre decision to make on the grid. As he finally opted to go in slicks as many did today, the young Australian struggled in the opening laps of the 12 lap-shootout, lacking some confidence on the bike on a drying track with some damp marks. After one lap, he was down to P22, then P23, and P24 after three laps completed. He remained in that position for a while, but that first half of the race allowed him to understand the track conditions, and it gave him the confidence to try pushing a bit more in the second half. On lap 9, Jacob managed to gain two positions with a much-better rhythm, until he finally saw the checkered flag in P15 to score a point, a good reward to the rookie with many learnings! That’s now two rounds in a row with points scored for Roulstone, a good boost of confidence heading to the penultimate round of the season, next week in Malaysia!