Veijer takes debut victory in #MalaysianGP, Sasaki 2nd

It was THE weekend for the LIQUI MOLY Husqvarna Intact GP Moto3 team. Both Collin Veijer and Ayumu Sasaki fought a brilliant battle for the lead in Malaysia, from which the rookie emerged with his debut victory, making history as the first Dutch winner since Hans Spaan in 1990. The Japanese reduced his championship deficit to 13 points with his second place.

The Malaysia Grand Prix at the Sepang International Circuit increasingly developed into a top-class thriller, in which the Husqvarna duo took the lead in constant rotation. Besieged by the world championship leader, Jaume Masia, both riders from the German racing team kept a cool head.

First and foremost: Collin Veijer. Just two weeks after his debut podium, the 18-year-old Moto3 rookie followed up with his debut victory. In the course of the race, which he started from P2, there were countless overtaking manoeuvres at the very front. The youngster always managed to make clean manoeuvres and also supported and protected his team-mate Sasaki as good as possible. In the end, Veijer put all on one card, overtook his team-mate and ultimately finished the 15-lap heat battle as a new Grand Prix winner.

Ayumu Sasaki, who is in the middle of the title fight, managed to keep Jaume Masia at bay on the 5.54 km Malaysian race track after a lot of leading work and numerous heated slipstream duels. This second place reduced his championship deficit to just thirteen points two races before the season finale. The finish was a very close call with just a 0.066s gap to his team-mate, but in just one week’s time, from the 17th to the 19th of November, the Japanese rider will get his next chance to continue his title mission in Qatar.

Collin Veijer – P1

I feel great! It was incredibly exhausting! It was a great race and I tried to stay at the front as much as I could. At one point I had to attack my team-mate because otherwise the group behind me would have overtaken me as well. In the end, we achieved a 1-2 for our team and I’m very happy about that. I would like to thank the whole team for their tireless help.

Ayumu Sasaki – P2 (+0.066)

I think I had a great race. I was leading a lot, controlling the pace while trying to manage the tyres. I knew that Jaume Masia and my team-mate were with me and in turn 8 on the last lap I didn’t expect Collin to overtake me there. I didn’t brake that late, otherwise I could have been more ‘there’. Nevertheless, we have reduced the gap in the championship and still have two races to go. We will give our maximum.