The Tech3 Racing team duo of Remy Gardner and Bo Bendsneyder qualified in 13th and 26th spot respectively, following a difficult opening day with changing weather conditions at the Twin Ring Motegi. Both are eager to fight in tomorrow’s 16th round of 2018 when the lights go out at 12.20 local time (5.20 CET). Gardner was able to improve on his best lap from Friday significantly in FP3 this morning and lowered his time by further 1.096 seconds during Qualifying to eventually miss out on the top by just 0.746 seconds. Meanwhile, Bendsneyder had to learn a lot today, having his first full dry sessions at the Japanese venue. Thereby, the Dutch rookie qualified just one second behind his teammate.
Bo Bendsneyder – Position: 26th – Time: 1’52.549 – Laps: 19
“To be honest, the Qualifying was really difficult for me today. After we didn’t have much useful time on track yesterday, I had to start today to get used to the feeling aboard the Mistral 610 at this circuit. In the session this afternoon, I didn’t find good sensations, therefore we are for sure not where we know we can be. We’ll work through it now and hopefully find some solutions for tomorrow. Anyway, I look forward to the race.”
Results QP:
| Pos | Rider | Team | Fastest lap |
| 1 | Francesco BAGNAIA | SKY Racing Team VR46 | 1’50.759 |
| 2 | Fabio QUARTARARO | MB Conveyors – Speed Up | 1’50.924 |
| 3 | Iker LECUONA | Swiss Innovative Investors | 1’50.990 |
| 4 | Marcel SCHROTTER | Dynavolt Intact GP | 1’51.043 |
| 5 | Lorenzo BALDASSARRI | Pons HP40 | 1’51.092 |
| 6 | Alex MARQUEZ | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | 1’51.250 |
| 7 | Xavi VIERGE | Dynavolt Intact GP | 1’51.313 |
| 8 | Tetsuta NAGASHIMA | IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia | 1’51.327 |
| 9 | Miguel OLIVEIRA | Red Bull KTM Ajo | 1’51.331 |
| 10 | Brad BINDER | Red Bull KTM Ajo | 1’51.340 |
| 11 | Luca MARINI | SKY Racing Team VR46 | 1’51.343 |
| 12 | Augusto FERNANDEZ | Pons HP40 | 1’51.359 |
| 13 | Remy GARDNER | Tech 3 Racing | 1’51.505 |
| 14 | Joan MIR | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | 1’51.555 |
| 15 | Jorge NAVARRO | Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 | 1’51.638 |
| 16 | Simone CORSI | Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2 | 1’51.666 |
| 17 | Dominique AEGERTER | Kiefer Racing | 1’51.769 |
| 18 | Joe ROBERTS | NTS RW Racing GP | 1’51.797 |
| 19 | Sam LOWES | Swiss Innovative Investors | 1’51.808 |
| 20 | Andrea LOCATELLI | Italtrans Racing Team | 1’51.822 |
| 21 | Mattia PASINI | Italtrans Racing Team | 1’51.862 |
| 22 | Edgar PONS | MB Conveyors – Speed Up | 1’51.899 |
| 23 | Khairul Idham PAWI | IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia | 1’52.258 |
| 24 | Jesko RAFFIN | SAG Team | 1’52.378 |
| 25 | Steven ODENDAAL | NTS RW Racing GP | 1’52.505 |
| 26 | Bo BENDSNEYDER | Tech 3 Racing | 1’52.549 |
| 27 | Stefano MANZI | Forward Racing Team | 1’52.625 |
| 28 | Niki TUULI | Petronas Sprinta Racing | 1’52.775 |
| 29 | Isaac VIÑALES | Forward Racing Team | 1’53.222 |
| 30 | Jules DANILO | Nashi Argan SAG Team | 1’53.755 |
| 31 | Xavi CARDELUS | Marinelli Snipers Team | 1’53.870 |
| 32 | Federico FULIGNI | Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2 | 1’54.199 |
Source: motogp.com, tech3 racing
