The Indonesian rider turned everyone’s head as he locked in second place on the grid for Sunday’s race
Having previously had a best grid position of 16th spot, achieved last time out in Barcelona, Andi Farid showed he can be just as fast as the most experienced riders in the Junior World Championship. A time of 1’34.977 put the Indonesian rider 0.425s behind Lorenzo Dalla Porta and 0.017s ahead of third place Marcos Ramirez. Farid drew on all of his circuit knowledge from testing and proved that with a little experience under his belt, he’s deadly.
Almost all of the Qualifying times came from the first session, the track heating up significantly during the afternoon. This saw the likes of Kaito Toba unable to improve their times. Toba will line up at the back of the third row in ninth place as the second highest placed Asia Talent Team rider. The Japanese rider is looking to regain his confidence after a tough weekend in Barcelona.
Right behind Toba, only 0.27s back, is Ayumu Sasaki in tenth place. Sasaki had a mixed start to the season but was back in form in Barcelona, looking to get back on the podium once again. His 1’35.410 was 0.9s back on Dalla Porta’s pole time, the Italian looking hard to catch.
Once again Kazuki Masaki has continued his apprenticeship in an almost perfect manner, setting himself up for a strong race of learning with 13th place on the grid. Masaki has already proven to be a top five contender in 2016 and is out to, like Farid, use his knowledge of Albacete from testing to challenge for top points.
Nakarin Atiratphuvapat was one of just two riders to improve their times during the afternoon session, in the morning session he set a 1’36.166 and in the afternoon he improved by 0.008s to take 25th on the grid. It’s going to be a tough day for the Thai rider, 24 riders ahead of him split by just over a second.
Albacete will host just a single Moto3 Junior World Championship race, it’s time to push hard and forge ahead. Race will be held tomorrow Sunday at 13:00 (19 laps).
