As a German saying says: "The cat is out of the sack" A GR III without built-in flash was was registered with the FCC Agency recently: https://pentaxrumors.com/2018/11/02/fcc-filing-for-the-ricoh-gr-iii-camera/

This suggests that there will be no major technical changes to the camera before release.

I will try to deliver our 25 people strong petition those in charge and try to get a response regarding the flash.

Right now I don't have their direct email contacts. However I will try to connect them on LinkedIn and will let you know how that worked.

In the meantime post and tag your Ricoh GR Built-in flash photos on Social Media using #safethegriiiflash

Thanks for the Support!