FP3 Moto3 Portugal: Mario Aji Confirms Place In Q2!

Indonesian racer, Mario Aji, qualified for Q2 Moto3 Portugal. (Doc. MotoGP)

JAKARTA - Indonesian racer, Mario Aji, will determine the starting position of the second qualifying (Q2). Even though in the third free practice session (FP3), Saturday 23 April, he only finished 14th, Mario Aji has the right to go straight to Q2 thanks to his record time in the previous day's session.

In FP2 which took place on Friday, Mario Aji recorded the best lap time of 2 minutes 2.491 seconds. It became the best record until FP3 ended.

In this FP3, Sergio Garcia became the fastest. He carved a lap time of 2 minutes 3.866 seconds, 0.030 seconds adrift of Izan Guevara who was in second position.

Meanwhile, Mario Aji himself recorded a lap time of 2 minutes 5.333 seconds and was entitled to the 14th position. The racer who graduated from the Astra Honda Racing Team was 1,467 seconds adrift of Garcia.

Combined times for #Moto3! ️Qualifying waits! Will the conditions improve by then? #PortugueseGP pic.twitter.com/wbo8xHGiBP

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) April 23, 2022

The FP3 session was held on a wet track after heavy rains flushed the Portimao Circuit. This clearly makes it difficult for the riders to speed up the bike.

Evidently there have been several incidents that befell some riders. One of them is the GasGas Aspar racer, David Alonso. The wildcard rider had a highside when he was about to devour the 7th corner.

Less than four minutes into FP3's end, it was Mario Aji's teammate, Taiyo Furusato, who fell. He slipped as he was about to devour the first corner.

Results of the third free practice session (FP3) Moto3 Portugal, Saturday, 23 April:

Sergio Garcia 2:03,866

Ivan Guevara +0.030

Ayumu Sasaki +0.039

Scott Ogden +0.133

Dennis Foggia +0.260

Xavier Artigas +0.452

Carlos Tatay +0.474

Jaume Masia +0.732

Tatsuki Suzuki +1.015

Lorenzo Fellon +1.016