Collin Veijer continues title fight in Indonesia from 1st row

In the hot Moto3 qualifying session at the Pertamina Mandalika Street Circuit, LIQUI MOLY Husqvarna Intact GP Moto3 rider Collin Veijer showed his strong side. With second place on the front row of the grid, the signs to continue his title fight are good for the Dutchman.

The start to the fifteenth race weekend of the season could hardly have gone better for Collin Veijer after the 19-year-old finished the first day of practice as the fastest with a 1’37.942 after finishing fifth in free practice. The Dutchman topped this time again in the second qualifying session on Saturday morning, where second place paved his way into Q2. In incredible asphalt temperatures of 62°C, Veijer completed his laps all by himself. In the battle for pole position, however, the current third-placed rider in the world championship suffered a brutal front slide in his final attempt to attack.

Despite the small moment of shock, his strong groundwork was enough to secure second place on the grid on row 1, just 0.257s behind pole setter Ivan Ortola, from where he will try to fight for nothing less than victory in the 20-lap heat battle on Sunday thanks to his outstanding pace.

Collin Veijer, P2 – 1’37.589 (+0.257): “It was another good day today, so I’m satisfied. I felt very good this morning and tried my best to finish as far up in the front as possible in order to have a good position for qualifying. Our first run in qualifying was good because I was able to push well from the first lap, even though there were a few riders following me. But I tried to push to the limit, and it paid off. Overall, I think we can be satisfied with our qualifying, even though I made a small mistake just before the end. Apart from that, qualifying went quite well, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”