Disappointed with his DNF from Saturday in Phillip Island and no chance to make things better with Sunday’s Tissot Sprint cancelled, Augusto Fernandez was thrilled to get back in the saddle straight away with a new race week in Buriram. The rookie has been making decent progress over the last couple of rounds, but unfortunately results have not reflected the important steps made by the number 37. The Chang International Circuit was the perfect circuit for him to shine just before heading home for a well-deserved week of rest. In Free Practice 1, the rookie got up to speed rather quickly on the Thai circuit which he was discovering for the first time on a MotoGP™ machine, as he closed the session in P6 with a best lap in 1’31.343 (+0.823 secs). With the track conditions still dry for the afternoon’s Practice, all riders took their times down, but it all came down to the final five minutes as all went into time-attack mode to try making it to the top 10. It was a very tight session, with sixteen riders finishing less than 0.5 seconds from each other, but Augusto Fernandez managed to ride a perfect lap in 1’30.130 which got him the tenth position, qualifying him directly for Q2. This is the rookie’s first direct Q2 ticket of the season, a huge achievement for the number 37, and he will look to benefit from it tomorrow in the final qualifying session as he targets his best grid position of the year, and why not his best Tissot Sprint result when lights go out for thirteen fast laps tomorrow at 15:00 (GMT+7).

Pol Espargaro was also looking for a fresh start this week in Buriram after his disappointing race in Phillip Island. A bit of surfing in Melbourne’s famous artificial wave appeared to do some good to the GASGAS Tech3 rider, who completed his best FP1 of the season this morning, as he closed the top 3, just behind Jorge Martin and Maverick Vinales. A bit of help from the latest got him a last flying lap in 1’31.012 as he finished the session just 0.492 seconds from the fastest lap. Of course, that was only the start, but the Spaniard headed to this afternoon’s Practice with a good feeling. If the first half of the session was dedicated to trying to prepare the bike for both sprint and races, Espargaro had to focus on the fast laps towards the end of the session, as he looked to qualify again directly to Q2, which he did last week in Australia. Lap times were very competitive today, and Espargaro rode his fastest in 1’30.268, 0.744 seconds faster than in FP1, but that was not enough to make it to the top 10, and he finished in P15. The number 44 sits five positions away from his teammate, and yet there are only 0.138 seconds between the two GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3 riders, a sign of how tight and difficult it was to make it to the top 10 today. Still, with all times so close to each other, Pol Espargaro will have another chance to try making it to Q2, when pre-qualifying begins at 10:50 local time (GMT+7) on Saturday morning, shortly after Free Practice 2 which will kick off Saturday’s festivities at 10:10 LT.