Japan kicks off the final part of the season

Friday, October 2nd

The Japanese weekend gets underway with a few intermittent raindrops disrupting track activity, although conditions do not force the teams to switch to wet-weather solutions during FP1.
Jesus Rios gets off to a difficult start, forced to make a lengthy pit stop before even completing his first lap. As a result, the Spanish rider has little time available to get to grips with the Motegi circuit, which he is tackling for the first time.
Kiattisak Singhapong, meanwhile, starts with some positive signs, completing several valid laps during his first run before returning to the pits. The young Thai rider completes a total of 13 laps, setting his fastest time on lap 12 and showing the first signs of progress in finding the right feeling with both the bike and the circuit.

Conditions become even more challenging in the afternoon. Despite the lack of rainfall, the numerous crashes involving other riders highlight the difficulties in finding the right feeling with the track surface during the Practice session.
Rios significantly improves his performance compared to FP1 from the opening laps, completing several valuable laps to become more familiar with the Motegi layout. The Spanish rider even provisionally secures a place in the Top 10 with his final attempt, but numerous crashes and the resulting yellow flags prevent his fastest lap from being validated, denying him direct access to Q2.
Singhapong also continues to make progress, completing a first run featuring a series of increasingly fast laps. However, crashes involving other riders also heavily affect the Thai rider’s final result: none of the five laps completed during his second run is validated due to repeated yellow flags at several points around the circuit.
Despite this, there are encouraging signs ahead of qualifying. Three of the five cancelled laps would have been faster than the best officially recorded time at the end of the session, confirming Singhapong’s progress throughout the day.

Saturday, October 3rd

Saturday finally brought fully dry conditions and clear skies, giving the team and riders the opportunity to make the most of FP2 and continue their work ahead of qualifying and the race.
The session focused mainly on race pace and long runs, with Jesus Rios completing 14 laps, interrupted by a pit stop. The Spanish rider also improved his time-attack benchmark compared to Friday, setting his fastest lap on his eleventh lap.
Kiattisak Singhapong also made progress, completing 14 laps and improving on his times from the previous day on several occasions. Another step forward in finding the right feeling with both the bike and the Japanese circuit.

The main objective in qualifying was therefore to secure one of the top four positions in Q1, necessary to advance to Q2 and compete for the leading positions on the starting grid.
Singhapong continued his progress, immediately setting two good lap times during the first qualifying run and moving close to the Top 4. During the second run, the young Thai rider found another promising reference right at the chequered flag, but was unable to improve his time-attack benchmark, meaning he will have to fight his way through the field in the race.
Jesus Rios took a different route through the first qualifying phase. After a more challenging opening run, the Spanish rider found the decisive lap in the closing stages of the session, moving up to 3rd position and securing access to Q2.

In the second qualifying phase, Rios completed seven laps across two runs, with a pit stop to prepare for his final attempt. Having already set a solid benchmark during his first outing, the young Spaniard managed to improve further in the second run, recording his fastest time of the session.
The result leaves him just outside the Top 10 for the race, but once again confirms Rios’ talent and rapid progress on a circuit he is tackling for the first time.

Sunday, October 4th

Jesus Rios gets off to another strong start, confirming his quick reactions when the lights go out and immediately recovering several positions to reach the Top 10 during the opening laps.
Kiattisak Singhapong also makes a good start, holding his position and managing to defend against his rivals’ attacks during the first lap. However, his race comes to an end on lap two, when a crash while attempting to make up ground quickly, before the group begins to spread out, forces him to retire.

As the leading group gradually pulls away during the middle stages of the race, Rios finds himself battling in a large second group for championship points. The Spanish rider faces a phase marked by constant position changes, with overtakes and counterattacks, reaching the final stages of the Grand Prix just outside the points.

Over the closing laps, right up to the chequered flag, Jesus tries to increase his pace to defend his position and manages to gain another three places in the heat of the battle. The Spanish rider therefore finishes the GP in 19th position, after a challenging race affected both by the particularly abrasive track surface and by the intense battles with his rivals throughout the race.

Comments

The words of Jesus Rios following the conclusion of the GP:
“It was a difficult weekend. On Friday morning, we couldn’t get out on track due to a problem, which meant going straight into Practice on a new circuit that I still had to learn. Today, in the race, I felt I made a fairly good start, recovering positions up to P10, but we didn’t know what our pace would be like, and in the end, we finished P19.”

A weekend of adaptation for Kiattisak Singhapong:
“It was a challenging week, especially when it came to adapting to the new team. However, things have been gradually moving in a positive direction. During the race, I tried to stay with the group and maintain my pace, but unfortunately, I made a mistake and crashed before I could finish the race as planned. Nevertheless, I will take what happened as a lesson, continue to improve myself, and keep working hard together with the team.”