Moto3 Japan Practice 3: Jaume Masia and Daniel Holgado take advantage of the rising sun!

The great form of James Masia (Leopard Racing) continues after an excellent performance on Friday at Motegi, with the Indian Grand Prix winner setting a time of 1'57.068 to lead the Moto3 class ahead of Saturday's Japanese Grand Prix.

The pre-qualifying session took on particular importance at Motegi, with the threat of rain looming over the day on Saturday, and it was therefore essential that the drivers recorded a reference lap before this deadline, which the category leaders managed to do. Ivan Ortola (Angeluss MTA Team) occupies second place, just 0,108 seconds from the lead, while one of the headliners of the championship, Ayumu Sasaki (Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP), thanks to his late efforts, is in third place.

Daniel Holgado (Red Bull KTM Tech3), who leads the title race but is now tied on points with Masia, finds himself among those selected for Q2, after experiencing a series of more mixed results. The Spanish driver is P4, ahead Diogo Moreira (MT Helmets – MSI) and Deniz Oncu (Red Bull KTM Ajo). All the main protagonists involved in the title race could therefore sleep soundly on Friday evening, knowing that they were practically assured of a place in Q2 in the event of rain this morning, David Alonso (Gaviota GASGAS Aspar Team) sneaking into P13 at the end of the race.

Stefano Nepa (Angeluss MTA Team), Kaito Toba (SIC58 Squadra Corse) and Jose Antonio Rueda (Red Bull KTM Ajo) are all safely in the top 10, while three Japanese riders, Ryusei Yamanaka (Gaviota GASGAS Aspar Team), Taiyo Furusato (Honda Team Asia) and Tatsuki Suzuki (Leopard Racing) joined Alonso in the danger zone, if the sky were clear on Saturday morning. Colin Veijer (Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP) is one of the big names hoping the sun will shine, as the young Dutch rider missed his start to the weekend, a highside not helping his case.

But against all expectations, and contrary to weather forecasts, it is not raining this morning. It is therefore for the moment under a cloudy sky but with a dry track, with temperatures of 22° in the air and 31° on the ground that the 27 drivers are preparing for this last 30-minute pre-qualifying session in the country. of the rising sun.

Here is the table which summarizes the facts known so far.

Motegi Moto3™	2022	2023
FP1	1'57.252 Diogo Moreira	1'57.260 Diogo Moreira
FP2	2'09.684 Denis Foggia	1'57.068 Jaume Masia
FP3	CANCELLATIONDUE TO RAIN	1'56.548 Jaume Masia
Q1	2'11.779 Scott Ogden
Q2	2'11.246S Tatsuki Suzuki
Warm up	1:57.860 Ayumu Sasaki
Course	Guevara, Foggia, Sasaki (See here)
All time lap record	1'56.443 Hiroki Ono (2016)	1'56.548 Jaume Masia

James Masia doesn't let anyone take the lead, and that's what he does from the first flying lap, then registering 1'57.714 in the second.

As the laps go by, the Leopard driver improves by a few thousandths while we find behind him at first David munoz and Collin Veijer, the latter receiving a warning from the FIM MotoGP stewards because of his riding, but entering the top 14.

Around mid-session, the sun even made a shy appearance, but 10 minutes from the checkered flag, the Dutch driver remained the only one to have changed status.

Daniel Holgado However, take advantage of these few minutes to achieve the best time so far, in 1'56.817, relegating James Masia at 0,251 seconds in the combined standings.

The Tech3 driver improves to 1'56.632 four minutes from the end of the session, but there are eight of them lighting the first sector in red and nothing is over yet...

Deniz Oncu jumped to second position, just 28/1000 from his brand teammate, but in the last minute James Masia lights the first three sectors in red before reaching 1'56.548, new absolute record in the Moto3 category !

Results of Practice 1-2-3 of the Japanese Moto3 Grand Prix in Motegi:

Classification credit: MotoGP.com