Qualifying
Moto2 2023
Round 12
Chantra and Ogura improve but not enough
Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli
At a circuit with minimal gap, the IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia riders have been working to close the gap on their rivals. They are confident that a group race could allow them to challenge for the top positions.
Hiroshi Aoyama
IDEMITSU Honda Team AsiaYesterday, we had a complicated day, with several crashes. Today, we struggled to get the lap time, even if we improved. The differences to the other riders are tiny. Chantra is 11th, and Ogura is 13th, but it is a difficult day for us, to be honest. We will try to do another step ahead tomorrow; I believe we can do it better. We're not far from our rivals and can be with them with some improvement.
Somkiat Chantra
35
IDEMITSU Honda Team AsiaToday, we tried to fine-tune the suspension; in FP3, I had problems with the braking. In Q2, we tested some changes in the front fork and globally was better. The qualifying session was challenging to manage due to many yellow flags that ruined my options with the fresh tire. The race is tomorrow, and there we wait to do it better.
Ai Ogura
79
IDEMITSU Honda Team AsiaI expected more of today and am a little sad about that. I'm trying to see the positive part, like on some parts of the circuit, where I'm fast. The philosophy is to take the positive and to improve the negative. That is what we had today, and it's our starting point for improvements tomorrow.
