Veijer grabs row 2 in Austin qualifying

The third round of the Motorcycle World Championship season drew the LIQUI MOLY Husqvarna Intact GP Moto3 Team and Collin Veijer to Austin, Texas, where the Dutchman delivered a strong performance in Qualifying 2 at the Circuit of the Americas, finishing on the second row of the grid.

Collin Veijer really stepped up his game in the cloudy qualifying session, as the young Dutchman had already shown his strong side in free practice on Friday. Thanks to his 2’15.056 in P2, the 18-year-old was able to progress directly to Qualifying 2 on Saturday afternoon. In the 15-minute session, the rider with the number 95 completed targeted laps and gradually worked his way forward, taking the lead just a few seconds before the end of the session. However, there were still at least three faster rivals on the track, which ultimately pushed Veijer down to fourth place. This does not dampen his anticipation for the 14-lap race on Sunday, as he will start the US Grand Prix from fourth on the grid as the leader of the second row, directly behind pole man David Alonso, for which he is hoping for a successful finish with numerous points in addition to thrilling slipstream duels.

Collin Veijer P4 – 2’14.574 (+0.282): “Today’s qualifying wasn’t bad after feeling really good this morning, even though we didn’t get a good lap in our second exit in practice one. But I was confident that we could do decent laps in qualifying. We went out in the afternoon, and I gave my best all the time. I was able to set good lap times until the last lap and at one point I was able to set a strong time that was good enough to get into the top five. In any case, I also felt quite comfortable on used tyres when I set my fastest lap time on them. So, I think we are in good shape for the race and can fight for the top tomorrow.”