Collin Veijer eighteenth after crash in heated Down Under battle

It was an eventful race for Collin Veijer at the legendary Phillip Island Circuit. A crash on lap 12 deprived the Dutchman of any chance of scoring points despite rejoining the race.

In surprisingly good weather, the Moto3 riders rolled onto the grid of the 4.45 km long traditional race track on the south coast of Australia. As soon as the starting lights went out, an unrivalled battle for position ensued. In the first few metres of the 21-lap race, Collin Veijer lost a few positions from his second place on the grid and allowed himself time to find his rhythm after the initial carnage.

At one point, the Dutchman was even in eleventh position, from where he fought his way back up to P6 before Angel Piqueras made a mistake on lap 12 with fatal consequences for Veijer and his world championship rival Ivan Ortola. Veijer’s line was cut off at the apex of the corner, causing Piqueras to touch his front tyre, which then caused the 19-year-old to swerve and hit the side of Ortola, who also crashed in the collision. Veijer had the presence of mind to rejoin the race quickly in 21st position but was unable to catch up with the points, so last year’s Moto3 rookie finished in eighteenth place, which puts him 23 points behind Daniel Holgado in third place in the battle for the runner-up title ahead of the Grand Prix of Thailand in just one week’s time.

Collin Veijer, P18 – (+39.310), Moto3 World Championship 2024 – P3 – 209 Points: “Today’s race day was a bit strange today and the race was generally very long. We knew that tyre management would be crucial. My start was not good, so I tried to get back to the front, but it was very difficult because of the slipstream. But on one lap, as we turned into turn four, someone cut me off. I hit this rider and crashed, unfortunately taking Ortola with me when my bike hit his. I would like to apologize for that. Even though the race was over for us, we can be happy with the speed we had this weekend. But this is Moto3, it’s not the fairest class, to say the least. We will now go to Thailand and continue with our work there.”