The Moto3™ action from the OR Thailand Grand Prix resumed early on Saturday morning at the Chang International Circuit, with Daniel Holgado and Filippo Farioli getting back in the saddle with a final Practice 3. Holgado secured a direct Q2 ticket, while Farioli was on the entry list of the pre-qualifying stage. If the latest did not make it to the final stage and will start the Thai GP from P24, teammate Holgado will line up on the grid in eleventh as he targets big points on Sunday to keep his title chances alive.

A very hot Saturday awaited the lightweight class on Saturday in the province of Buriram, with already thirty-degrees in the air at 8:40 local time (GMT+7) as Daniel Holgado exited his pitbox for Practice 3. Eighth at the end of play on Friday, the number 96 needed to get a good lap to secure his ticket. Mission accomplished as the young Spaniard’s best lap in 1’42.469 placed him eleventh in the combined standing. In the final qualifying stage, he was never really up there in the contention for the pole, but a good enough lap in 1’42.541 meant that he took P11. Currently third in the championship with a twenty-two gap from leader Jaume Masia, Daniel Holgado must score big points on Sunday, should he wish to stay in the fight for the lightweight crown.

Young rookie Filippo Farioli did not quite find his way on Friday on the Chang International Circuit, which was a new layout for the Red Bull KTM Tech3 rider. After some much needed background work last night, the number 7 was finally able to take his lap times down in this morning’s Practice 3, with a best in 1’43.496, 0.777 seconds faster than yesterday, an encouraging improvement for the young boy clearly on the lookout for confidence this weekend. He closed the combined practices in twenty-seventh, and had to go through the pre-qualifying stage at 12:50 LT. In the afternoon, the rookie rode his best in 1’43.905, on his own, and qualified in twenty-fourth for Sunday’s race, scheduled at 12:00 (GMT+7).

“We worked a lot on our bike’s setting for the race today, and I am really happy with the job we did. I feel that I have a good pace to be able to fight for a podium on Sunday, so we are ready to fight. Thank you to my squad, looking forward to racing in front of Thai fans!”

“This is a very difficult track for me, but we did a bit better than yesterday, which is a positive point. In the qualifying, I tried to ride alone, ride my best lap, and in the end it was not so bad. We know more or less what we need to improve, both with my riding and the bike, to try staying with the front tomorrow. We will start from P24, but it will be important to stay with the right group because we can benefit a lot from the slipstreams here. I will do my best to keep in contact.”