Battling performances from Honda HRC trio in Turkiye

Tim Gajser, Ruben Fernandez and Valerio Lata all put in fighting performances on the hard-pack Afyon circuit, as the Honda HRC trio finished in fourth, ninth and seventh positions in their respective qualification races.

Lata had started off the day excellently in the MX2 class, as he posted the fastest laptime in timed practice, giving him first gate-pick for the qualifying race. He then utilised that to great effect by rounding the first few corners inside the top three and then holding off the charging 250cc riders for the majority of the moto. Unfortunately the youngster wasn’t able to maintain that pace for the whole race and lost a few positions on the last couple of laps, but it was still a welcome return to see the Honda CRF250R rider battling with the top guys and showing he still has that raw speed.

In the MXGP class, Gajser was also looking a solid podium threat with fourth in free practice and then timed practice. He was then running in third for the first half of qualification before he dropped a position and finished in fourth place. This gives him a boost that he able to mix it up with the podium spots and he’ll be looking for that tomorrow in the longer motos.

It was an eventful race for Fernandez as the Spaniard started off just inside the top 10 for the first half of the moto. As he was looking to move forward, he collided with another rider and was left on the ground. Remounting around 15^th position, he then put on a charge – on a track that was getting harder to pass on – to move himself back to ninth by the time he received the chequered flag. While the end result was disappointing, the manner that he rode in the second half of the race was positive, and the manner of the passes he made was extremely impressive.

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MX2 Qualification Race
1. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 24:59.840; 2. Kay de Wolf (NED, Husqvarna), +0:06.823; 3. Guillem Farres (ESP, Triumph), +0:08.069; 4. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, Triumph), +0:08.784; 5. Liam Everts (BEL, Husqvarna), +0:09.274; 6. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), +0:10.804; 7. Valerio Lata (ITA, Honda), +0:12.477; 8. Thibault Benistant (FRA, Yamaha), +0:13.233; 9. Mathis Valin (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:20.739; 10. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), +0:24.897;