Although a newcomer to the track more than thousand metres above sea-level in western Anatolia the French youngster already stamped his authority on proceedings during Timed Practice as he established pole position with a lap-time eight-tenths of a second faster than his closest rival in the points-chase and twice that margin to the other remaining title candidate. In the first points-scoring race of the weekend he confirmed his pace with a smart move at turn three on the opening lap to move from third to first and he immediately sprinted clear to establish a lead of more than two seconds on the opening lap. Taking full advantage of the superb handling and smooth power delivery of his KX250 the teenager rode an elegant mistake-free race to move ever further clear to build a ten-second advantage before rolling unchallenged through the last few turns for his seventh moto-victory of the campaign. The commanding defeat of his closest rival in the championship chase sees him take a fourteen-point advantage into the final three motos of the campaign.
 
Mathis Valin: "Today I had a very good speed on this track; I posted the fastest lap in the Timed Practice session, nearly one second faster than my rivals, and then the race was perfect. My start was good and I could take the lead already during the first lap. I pushed straight away to make a gap as it was really hot; I wanted to build a gap as you never know how the body could react in these conditions. When I came here I was not too confident as fast tracks and hard-pack are not my favourites conditions, but in the end I had a lot of fun today!"
 
Bud teammate Benjamin Garib continued to show his progress with fifth-fastest time during Timed Practice but the Chilean faced a frustrating race in the Saturday moto. A slight off-track excursion to avoid a fallen rider saw him complete the opening lap eighth and that was where he stayed in a leaderboard train until a small slip on lap eight of fourteen as he tried for a pass ended up costing two positions to finish tenth. Nevertheless his efforts saw him advance to eighth in the series-standings and he now has his eyes on seventh.
 
Benjamin Garib: "Both practice session went really well but I just never had a good feeling in the moto. I took a good start but a Yamaha guy crashed in front of me on the first lap; I was forced off-track and that cost me several placings. We will keep pushing like always; I look for another good start tomorrow and stay there this time."