Foggia On Pole As He Pursues Title Runner-Up Result
Sepang International CircuitDennis Foggia (Leopard Racing Honda NSF250RW) scored a brilliant pole position at Sepang today, riding the fastest-ever Moto3 lap around the high-speed Malaysian circuit.
The last time the 21-year-old Italian took pole was in Thailand, two races ago, and Foggia followed that up with a superb victory, so he will be hoping for another pole/win double tomorrow.
Although Foggia’s championship hopes are already over – the title was decided by Izan Guevara last Sunday in Australia – he is now battling to complete his final Moto3 season as championship runner-up, before graduating to Moto2 next year. Foggia currently stands third, just two points behind Sergio Garcia, so a win tomorrow will be a huge boost.
Andrea Migno (Rivacold Snipers Team Honda NSF250RW) also had a great day, equalling his best grid position since April’s Americas Grand Prix, which he started from pole and finished third. This afternoon the 26-year-old Italian was sixth fastest, less than two tenths of a second off the front row. He will therefore be in the hunt for a podium tomorrow, the 19th race of the 20-round season.
Tatsuki Suzuki (Leopard Racing Honda NSF250RW), who started last month’s Japanese at Mobility Resort Motegi from pole, will line up on the third row at Sepang, after qualifying eighth quickest. The 25-year-old from Chiba will be keen to get back in the points here, after scoring no points at the last three races.
Once again Taiyo Furusato (Honda Team Asia Honda NSF250RW) showed his class, bouncing back from a difficult first three practice sessions, which he ended in 26th, to take third in the Q1 qualifying session and promote himself to Q2. The 17-year-old Grand Prix rookie from Kanoya wasn’t able to repeat his tenth place on the grid he took in Australia and instead will start tomorrow’s race from the fifth row, in 15th.
Mario Suryo Aji (Honda Team Asia Honda NSF250RW) improved his position one place from free practice to qualifying, which put him 29th quickest. The 18-year-old Indonesian Grand Prix rookie will be hoping to fight his way back into the points for the first time since the Italian GP.
The paddock concludes its Asian/Australian adventure tomorrow and then returns to Europe for the season-finale at Valencia, Spain, on 6th November.
It’s important for tomorrow to start on the front row but of course the most important thing will be the race itself. I feel really happy about the weekend we’ve done so far. I’m also happy with my fourth pole position of the season and I feel good. Tomorrow, more!
Again, in Q2! Today until FP3 I had many problems with front-end feel. We’ve made some changes, but in Q1 I made some changes to my riding. I did a good lap time alone, winning the pass to Q2. There, I tried to do it again, expecting the help of the slipstream. It’s a long track, and there are many fast riders. I’ll try to be with them tomorrow.
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Another challenging day, although overall, I’ve improved a lot since Friday morning. My place on the grid isn’t what I expected, but I’m happy with myself because I improved my feeling on the bike a lot. It’s a pity because in my last outing another rider disturbed me greatly in the first sector. The team believe in me because they know my capability.
