Dennis Foggia has set a new All Time Lap Record in Moto3™ Q2 at the OR Thailand Grand Prix. Just hours after establishing a new lightweight class benchmark in FP3 at the Chang International Circuit, the Leopard Racing rider chipped another 0.007 seconds out of it to claim pole position on a 1:42.077. His late effort knocked Jaume Masia (Red Bull KTM Ajo) off pole position, with Ayumu Sasaki (Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max) to share the front row with them, but we have to look a lot further back to find title contenders. Both Gaviota GASGAS Aspar Team riders went into Q1 and while World Championship leader Izan Guevara was a subpar 11th by the end of Q2, his teammate Sergio Garcia did not even make it out of the first stanza of qualifying.

Sasaki set the early pace in Q2 with a 1:42.486 on his first flyer before Foggia took over the ascendancy with a 1:42.466. Meanwhile, Guevara had thrown a dummy when he went out on used tyres, unbeknownst to the several riders who decided to follow him. The Championship leader pitted immediately before going back out with new rubber, halfway through the session.

Guevara then moved into seventh on a 1:43.175 although Ryusei Yamanaka (MT Helmets – MSI) had managed to get into his slipstream and immediately pushed him back to eighth in setting a 1:43.084 to go sixth. It was a somewhat similar story on the next lap when Guevara moved up to sixth on a 1:43.047 and Yamanaka used him as a reference to creep up to fourth with a 1:42.986.

That was how they stood when the chequered flag came out, at which time Masia had not recorded a time at all, but then he strung a pretty good lap together – a 1:42.369 which was in fact good enough for pole until Foggia came through and set another lap record. Sasaki finished third courtesy of his initial flyer, ahead of Stefano Nepa (Angeluss MTA Team), Diogo Moreira (MT Helmets – MSI), Daniel Holgado (Red Bull KTM Ajo), Riccardo Rossi (SIC58 Squadra Corse), John McPhee (Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max), and Yamanaka also on Row 3.

David Muñoz (BOE Motorsports) came from Q1 to head up Row 4 and we find Guevara shuffled back to 11th in the final flurry after he could not improve on his last lap. Joel Kelso (CIP Green Power) qualified 12th, ahead of Taiyo Furusato (Honda Team Asia), Andrea Migno (Rivacold Snipers Team), Q1 pace-setter Lorenzo Fellon (SIC58 Squadra Corse), Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Tech3), and Kaito Toba (CIP Green Power), while Tatsuki Suzuki (Leopard Racing) was classified 18th.

Back in Q1, the top four after the opening flyers was Fellon, Furusato, Adrian Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Tech3), and Garcia. That remained the case until Guevara came back out for his second run and clocked a 1:42.926 to jump to second and bump his teammate out of the provisional Q2 positions. Making matters worse for Garcia, Guevara had given a tow to Muñoz, who used it to take up fourth position on what was his first flyer, and Fellon followed both of them around as he moved the benchmark to a 1:42.813.

Garcia was therefore sixth when the chequered flag came out and while he then went personal-best to Sector 3, the Spaniard could not improve on his initial 1:43.140. He will therefore start 20th on the grid, between Fernandez in 19th and Elia Bartolini (QJMotor Avintia Racing Team) in 21st, on the seventh row of the grid.

Warm Up is next on Sunday at 10:00 (GMT +7), then it’s lights out at 12:00!

Moto3™ Q2 Top 10

1. Dennis Foggia (Leopard Racing) – 1:42.077
2. Jaume Masia (Red Bull KTM Ajo) + 0.292
3. Ayumu Sasaki (Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max) + 0.409
4. Stefano Nepa (Angeluss MTA Team) + 0.454
5. Diogo Moreira (MT Helmets – MSI) + 0.639
6. Daniel Holgado (Red Bull KTM Ajo) + 0.663
7. Riccardo Rossi (SIC58 Squadra Corse) + 0.770
8. John McPhee (Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max) + 0.829
9. Ryusei Yamanaka (MT Helmets – MSI) + 0.909
10. David Muñoz (BOE Motorsports) + 0.954