The rookies of the Saxon team faced their first ever qualifying of Moto3 World Championship under the Qatari sunset
After a three-day-test last week, Jason Dupasquier and Dirk Geiger have started their first race weekend on the Circuit of Losail (Doha, Qatar). As the fifteen-year-old Barry Baltus, the regular rider of the team is still not eligible to take part in a race weekend, it´s again the German Dirk Geiger who shares the box with the other official rider of the team, the Swiss Jason Dupasquier.
Two sessions of free practice were scheduled on Friday, while on Saturday the riders took part in another FP session on early afternoon, even if almost nobody on the Moto3 grid was able to improve his laptime of the previous day due to the conditions of the track. Later in the day, Geiger and Dupasquier faced their first qualifying of the season, finishing the session respectively 14th and 15th.
This result allow them to start on 28th and 29th position of the starting grid in the first race of the 2020 season in Qatar. Tomorrow at 14:20 (German time), the lights will go out and the season will officially start: the whole team is ready to do their best, starting from the first appointment of the year.
Top 10:
1. Tatsuki Suzuki (Sic58 Squadra Corse) 2’04.815
2. Raul Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo ) 2’04.823
3. Albert Arenas (Aspar Team Gaviota) 2’04.925
4. Darryn Binder (CIP Green Power) 2’05.026
5. Ai Ogura (Honda Team Asia) 2’05.065
6. Jaume Masia (Leopard Racing) 2’05.086
7. Andrea Migno (SKY Racing Team VR46) 2’05.129
8. Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) 2’05.176
9. John Mcphee (Petronas Sprinta Racing) 2’05.242
10. Tony Arbolino (Rivacold Snipers Team) 2´05.327
…….
28. Dirk Geiger (Carxpert PrüstelGP) 2´07.258
29. Jason Dupasquier (Carxpert PrüstelGP) 2´07.260
#60 Dirk Geiger P28 2:07.258
“The qualifying was really good. I was really motivated, and it helped me a lot! I´ve had a very good feeling with the bike and I was pushing at my 100%. Beside the position on the starting grid, I am really satisfied with the work done with the team. I was faster than in FP3, the lap time that I was able to reach was good. Once again, I want to thank the team, they helped me a lot and supported me.”
#50 Jason Dupasquier P29 2:07.260
“It was not only my first qualifying of the season but also my first qualifying ever in World Championship. It was not bad, but I am not 100% satisfied. I did a good first lap and then I came back to the box and then when I go out it was just 4 minutes left. The feeling was not perfect then, I wanted to be in the group but then in the last straight they all close the throttle…I don´t understand it but it must be how the world championship works! I need to learn a lot for the qualifying in order to catch the right group and make a good laptime.”
Photo credits © [2020] RLekl
