The opening round of the Moto3 World Championship, held in Thailand (rather than the customary start beneath the floodlights of Lusail) got underway this weekend, 28 February -2 March, with four Hondas in the top nine.

Of those, it was Stefano Nepa who led the charge to finish second quickest for SIC58 Squadra Corse. The track temperature reached a sweltering 57 degrees Celsius amid an air temperature of 36 degrees Celsius – as hot as the competition on track in typical Moto3 fashion. Nepa was just 0.082seconds shy of pole position, with the top three covered by just 0.096seconds.

Ten Honda machines line up on the grid across five teams for the 2025 moto3 World Championship: the SIC58 Squadra Corse duo of Nepa and Luca Lunetta; Leopard Racing’s Adrian Fernandez and David Almansa; Honda Team Asia’s Taiyo Furusato and Tatchakorn Buasri; the Rivacold Snipers Team of Riccardo Rossi and Nicola Carraro; and Marcos Uriarte and Eddie O’Shea of GRYD – Mlav Racing.

Lunetta finished fifth fastest to put both SIC58 Squadra Corse riders in the top five, followed by Almansa 7^th and Furusato in 9^th to put four Honda riders in the top nine.

The Grand Prix of Thailand gets underway at 1200 local time on Sunday 2 March, where battle will commence over what will surely a hot and intense 19 laps of action.