Mobility Resort Motegi
Recovery ride for Marini as Chantra surprises with career-best Qualifying
The spirit of The Dream. The Challenge burned brightly inside the Honda HRC Castrol garage as both Luca Marini and Somkiat Chantra made their marks during a Saturday full of surprises at the Japanese GP.
Stable conditions throughout Saturday gave the entire MotoGP grid plenty of productive time on track as lap times tumbled throughout the day, teams and riders improving their understanding of Motegi's new surface. Luca Marini spent his morning working to overcome the time lost on Friday as a result of his crash, the Italian 0.3s off one of the two transfer spots available in Q1. Clearly up for a fight, the #10 made a strong start to the 12-lap Sprint to immediately threaten the top ten.
Chasing down Quartararo, Raul Fernandez and Zarco, the Italian applied pressure to the group fighting for the points paying positions until late into the race. Crossing the line in 11th place, Marini has gained good information for what direction to head on Sunday.
Somkiat Chantra put in a stellar Q1 performance to secure 15th on the grid, his best qualifying result in the premier class. Focusing on enjoying every lap, Thailand’s first premier class Grand Prix rider has continued to go from strength to strength during the weekend. A safe start to the Sprint saw him lose early contact with the riders but with a clear plan in mind, the temporary #15 would earn 14th in the Sprint just a tenth behind the experienced Alex Rins.
Sunday will see Honda HRC Castrol’s special home GP livery make its on track debut, the modern tribute to the Honda RC181 is sure to grab attention when the lights go out for the 24-lap Japanese GP at 14:00 Local Time.
Luca Marini 10 Honda HRC Castrol
“Today we made some progress compared to yesterday, but we still missed that last tenth or so in Qualifying to miss the top ten. I made a pretty good start to the Sprint and was able to gain positions early, then I focused a lot on defending. As we can see, the choice of tyre will be crucial for Sunday’s race, so we need to understand what the options are. Sunday is a new day and we still have some cards to play, the motivation is really high to do well in front of the home fans.”
Somkiat Chantra 15 Honda HRC Castrol
“It was a really exciting day today, honestly, I enjoyed it a lot. I am super happy with what I managed in Qualifying, to come back and achieve my best grid position in MotoGP is great and I have to say a huge thank you to the team for making such a good job this weekend. On the grid for the Sprint, I felt really happy to be back in MotoGP. Once the race started, I was quite careful in the opening laps to avoid any problems, and I worked to gain some ground at the end of the race. Tomorrow I will try better with what we have learned from today. We keep enjoying every lap.”
