Collin Veijer secures sixth place for Thai Grand Prix

Collin Veijer will start from sixth on the grid at the PT Grand Prix of Thailand after a strong Q2 performance in Buriram on Saturday. The Dutch rider was just over a tenth of a second off the front row on a positive day.

Free Practice 2 took place in temperatures of 27°C, only slightly cooler than on Friday morning.

Collin Veijer delivered a solid performance in the second and final Free Practice session of the weekend. He began calmly, completing a short run to continue fine-tuning his bike ahead of the race. Close to the Top 10 but still four tenths of a second slower than his best time from Friday, he returned to the track in the final ten minutes. From then on, he put together a fast and very consistent run, demonstrating both speed and confidence. Veijer lowered his time to 1:35.043 after 13 laps, which ultimately placed him sixth in the session.

Qualifying took place under the highest ambient temperatures of the weekend, rising to 33°C.

In Q2, Veijer steadily improved his position with each lap. During his first run, he settled inside the Top 10, while on his second time attack the Red Bull KTM Ajo rider provisionally moved into fourth place, stringing together two more laps in which he set the fastest sectors. However, he was unable to maintain his pace in the final sectors of those laps, leaving him sixth with a 1:34.788 — two tenths off pole position. This result marks his fourth-best Q2 performance in the intermediate class.

Collin Veijer (Red Bull KTM Ajo) | 1:34.788 (+0.212): “I’m very happy with today. We improved from yesterday once again, so it was a nice Saturday. This morning we worked with used tyres to get on the pace with them; it wasn’t easy, but we did a good job. In Qualifying, I tried to follow some people during the first stint, but we struggled a little bit with that, so we decided to go out alone on the second run and we managed to take sixth place for tomorrow. I’m very happy with that, but we know that the points come in the races, so we will try our best to feel good and claim a strong result.”

With Saturday complete, the Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 rider now heads off to rest before tackling the main event — and the most demanding part — of the weekend: Sunday’s race. With clear objectives for Veijer, he will aim to finish the first Grand Prix of the season by confirming the positive feeling built throughout the weekend.

The 22-lap Moto2 race will take place on Sunday at 1:15 p.m. (local time) at the Chang International Circuit.