Sky VR46’s Luca Marini topped the timesheets in Moto2 FP1 and FP2 to lay down the gauntlet to his rivals at the Jerez MotoGP round today.
Jorge Navarro (HDR Heidrun Speed Up) sits second as the Spaniard splits the SKY Racing Team VR46 duo inside the top three – Marco Bezzecchi taking third overall.
It was clear from the early stages of the afternoon that riders were going to struggle to better their FP1 times that were set in cooler track temperatures.
Track temperatures were well into the 50°C for the intermediate class, but Marini looked as comfortable as he did in the morning session, going P1 on his fourth flying lap. And it wasn’t until teammate Bezzecchi went quicker than Marini had a two-tenths buffer over his rivals.
Both the Italians looked strong in both sessions on Friday as they worked in tandem for a brief period in FP2, but it wasn’t such a straightforward afternoon for the man second overall.
aight, a slight disruption to his afternoon’s running. Nevertheless, Navarro was able to get back out and finish P6 in FP2, with the times – just as they were in FP1 – very close, despite Marini leading both sessions.
Championship leader Tetsuta Nagashima (Red Bull KTM Ajo) was another man to look comfortable across Friday’s action, with rookie Aron Canet (Inde Aspar Team Moto2) finishing P4 in FP2 after claiming P17 in FP1.
However, the times remained unchanged from FP1. Behind the leading trio sits Nagashima and Marcel Schrötter (Liqui Moly Intact GP) – the German finishing P7 in FP2 – with Sam Lowes (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) showing well in both sessions too to end the day P6 on the combined times.
Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo) claims P7 on the opening day in Jerez with Fabio Di Giannantonio (HDR Heidrun Speed Up), Joe Roberts (Tennor American Racing) and Hafizh Syahrin (Inde Aspar Team Moto2) completing the top 10.
Jake Dixon finished in 23rd place but only 1.1s off the pace.
