Team Suzuki Press Office – October 1.
Alex Rins: 10th – 1’30.337 (+ 0.666)
Danilo Petrucci: 24th – 1’31.604 (Q1)
The Thai track of Buriram remained dry once again despite predictions of rain, this allowed the MotoGP field to have a straight-forward Saturday.
Alex Rins put in the work in the morning’s FP3 session to ensure that he could secure direct passage to Q2, he felt good and was able to keep his GSX-RR firmly in the Top 10. On the other side of the box, Danilo Petrucci became the first rider of the day to improve as he continued to learn the Suzuki style.
‘Petrux’ started FP4 with a run of 11 laps, making the most of the good conditions to gather race setup info. Similarly, Rins put in a 14-lap run which demonstrated his strong and consistent pace. In Q1 Petrucci chopped a chunk out of his lap time, setting his best of the weekend so far; 1’31.604. However, he closed qualifying in 24th spot. Rins did his best to grab a grid place on the front two rows, holding sixth for a time. At ‘time up’ he had slipped to 10th.
Alex Rins:
“I think I have a good chance tomorrow, because I feel like I have really good race pace, especially with used tyres. But I will start from P10 on the grid, which obviously makes things more difficult than if I was higher. It’s a bit frustrating but I couldn’t find the same pace on fresh tyres, and Petrux also felt similar. There are some hard braking zones on the first corners, and I’ll try to make up some positions in the early laps, especially once the fuel load drops a bit.”
Danilo Petrucci:
“I’m happy, even though I didn’t want to finish last. I’m feeling quite confident about the race because my overall pace is much better than my ‘flying laps’, so I think I can be quicker tomorrow. When it comes to setting a hot lap I’m finding it harder to understand how best to ride the bike, and the others are faster than me because they do it every week. The team have put in a big effort for me, they are amazing and so is the bike, and I will try to be as competitive as possible tomorrow because they deserve it.”
Livio Suppo – Team Manager:
“As we say in Italy ‘bene ma non benissimo’! Danilo is doing a really good job so far; his race pace is impressive considering he hasn’t had much time on this bike and he’s been out of MotoGP for one season. So, we’re very happy. Alex seems to be really fast in terms of race pace, but in qualifying the first exit didn’t work out very well. Although the second row was our target, we still believe he has the potential to put together a good race tomorrow.”
GRAND PRIX OF THAILAND QUALIFYING CLASSIFICATION:
1 Marco BEZZECCHI Mooney VR46 Racing Team 1’29.671
2 Jorge MARTIN Prima Pramac Racing 1’29.692 0.021 0.021
3 Francesco BAGNAIA Ducati Lenovo Team 1’29.775 0.104 0.083
4 Fabio QUARTARARO Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 1’29.909 0.238 0.134
5 Johann ZARCO Prima Pramac Racing 1’29.963 0.292 0.054
6 Enea BASTIANINI Gresini Racing MotoGP 1’29.988 0.317 0.025
7 Jack MILLER Ducati Lenovo Team 1’30.106 0.435 0.118
8 Marc MARQUEZ Repsol Honda Team 1’30.133 0.462 0.027
9 Luca MARINI Mooney VR46 Racing Team 1’30.214 0.543 0.081
10 Alex RINS Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 1’30.337 0.666 0.123
11 Miguel OLIVEIRA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 1’30.485 0.814 0.148
12 Brad BINDER Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 1’30.542 0.871 0.057
13 Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia Racing Q1
14 Franco MORBIDELLI I Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Q1
15 Cal CRUTCHLOW WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team Q1
16 Raul FERNANDEZ Tech3 KTM Factory Racing Q1
17 Maverick VIÑALES Aprilia Racing Q1
18 Remy GARDNER Tech3 KTM Factory Racing Q1
19 Pol ESPARGARO Repsol Honda Team Q1
20 Alex MARQUEZ LCR Honda CASTROL Q1
21 Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO Gresini Racing MotoGP Q1
22 Tetsuta NAGASHIMA LCR Honda IDEMITSU Q1
23 Darryn BINDER WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team Q1
24 Danilo PETRUCCI Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Q1
