Aji Narrowly Misses Q2 as IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia Faces Tough Saturday at COTA
Circuit Of The AmericasIdemitsu Honda Team Asia riders Mario Suryo Aji and Taiyo Furusato completed qualifying day at the Red Bull Grand Prix of the United States with a tough but hard-fought Saturday at the Circuit of the Americas. On a dry and sunny day in Austin, both riders continued working to improve their feeling with the bike and find a better rhythm on one of the most demanding tracks of the season.
The day began with the final free practice session in the morning, where Aji finished 18th and Furusato 25th, both riders making some progress before the important qualifying sessions later in the day.
In Q1, Mario Aji made a strong push and stayed in the fight for a Q2 place until the very last moments, but unfortunately missed out by just one position. The Indonesian rider will therefore start the race from 19th on the grid. On the other side of the garage, rookie Taiyo Furusato secured 24th place, continuing his adaptation process and taking more steps forward as he gains experience in the Moto2 class.
Even if the final grid positions were not the ones the team was aiming for, there were still positive signs in terms of lap time and bike feeling. Now the focus turns to race day, where both riders will look to make up positions and fight forward in Sunday’s Moto2 contest.
Today’s Moto2 qualifying was done in quite nice weather conditions, and in terms of lap time both riders improved and had a bit better feeling on the bike. But position-wise, we didn’t improve as much as we wanted, and that means the other riders also made another step while we still need to catch up more.The gap is still there — for Mario it was around half a second, and for Taiyo even more — so we need to analyze carefully where we are losing and what we can improve for tomorrow. Starting from P19 and P24 is not ideal, of course, but depending on the pace they can keep in the race, there is still a chance to recover. Tomorrow is another day and we have to try again.
Today’s Moto2 qualifying was done in quite nice weather conditions, and in terms of lap time both riders improved and had a bit better feeling on the bike. But position-wise, we didn’t improve as much as we wanted, and that means the other riders also made another step while we still need to catch up more.The gap is still there — for Mario it was around half a second, and for Taiyo even more — so we need to analyze carefully where we are losing and what we can improve for tomorrow. Starting from P19 and P24 is not ideal, of course, but depending on the pace they can keep in the race, there is still a chance to recover. Tomorrow is another day and we have to try again.
I lost a bit of the momentum we had on Friday, and honestly I was really optimistic that this could be a very good weekend for us. But it became a bit complicated because we changed many things on the setup to try to find the right compromise, and in the end we found something better today in qualifying. Still, I’m a bit upset because I feel like we couldn’t fully maximize either my potential or the bike’s potential this weekend.We know we have speed, and that’s the most important thing to keep in mind. We just lost a little bit of confidence at the wrong moment and that made it difficult to stay with the others. But it’s okay — this is only the third race of the season, and there is still a long way to go. Tomorrow is an attack race from the beginning. The target is to overtake as many riders as possible, make the race easier for myself, and bring the bike home with a better result. I want to thank the team and also say sorry because I know it could have been better.
I lost a bit of the momentum we had on Friday, and honestly I was really optimistic that this could be a very good weekend for us. But it became a bit complicated because we changed many things on the setup to try to find the right compromise, and in the end we found something better today in qualifying. Still, I’m a bit upset because I feel like we couldn’t fully maximize either my potential or the bike’s potential this weekend.We know we have speed, and that’s the most important thing to keep in mind. We just lost a little bit of confidence at the wrong moment and that made it difficult to stay with the others. But it’s okay — this is only the third race of the season, and there is still a long way to go. Tomorrow is an attack race from the beginning. The target is to overtake as many riders as possible, make the race easier for myself, and bring the bike home with a better result. I want to thank the team and also say sorry because I know it could have been better.
It was not an easy day, but I think there are still some positive things to take from it. Little by little I’m understanding more about the bike and also how I need to ride it on a track like this. COTA is very demanding, and in Moto2 every detail makes a big difference, so I’m still in the process of adapting and learning where I can improve the most.Of course, I would like to be more in front, but I know this is part of the work I need to do in this category. The important thing is to stay patient, keep working hard with the team and try to make another step in the race. Tomorrow I want to focus on doing a consistent race, learning more and fighting as much as possible to move forward.
It was not an easy day, but I think there are still some positive things to take from it. Little by little I’m understanding more about the bike and also how I need to ride it on a track like this. COTA is very demanding, and in Moto2 every detail makes a big difference, so I’m still in the process of adapting and learning where I can improve the most.Of course, I would like to be more in front, but I know this is part of the work I need to do in this category. The important thing is to stay patient, keep working hard with the team and try to make another step in the race. Tomorrow I want to focus on doing a consistent race, learning more and fighting as much as possible to move forward.
