Jaume Masia avoided the drama to end the opening day of Friday Practice action for the Moto3 Dutch TT at Assen with the quickest time, while his main title rivals struggled for form.
The Leopard Racing rider is yet to win a race this season but sits second in the overall standings, albeit 41 points adrift of series leader Daniel Holgado.
However, his Netherlands weekend has at least started on the right foot as he topped both P1 and P2, the Spaniard's benchmark coming in the latter despite only a handful of riders finding time in the afternoon.
He led an unchanged P1 and P2 top three with Stefano Nepa and Romano Fenati following up in second and third, though the latter ended his day in the gravel trap.
He wasn't the only one though with a number of leading contenders hitting the deck over the course of the day. These included championship leader Holgado, who fell in both P1 and P2, only cracking the critical provisional top 14 for Q2 with his very final lap en route to tenth.
>>> 2023 Moto3 World Championship standings <<<
He fared better than German Moto3 winner Deniz Oncu who - after a rude awakening when he was rear-ended by Ryusei Yamanaka coming out of the pit-lane at the start of P1 - was dumped down to 17th on the P2 timesheets after having his final lap cancelled.
There was also trouble for Diogo Moreira, who crashed twice in P2 to leave him without a time in that session but still eighth overall, while Ivan Ortola crashed at the Geert Timmer chicane in the closing moments of P2 to end his day a lowly 26th.
Back at the front, David Munoz and Xavier Artigas completed the top five, with David Alonso surging from outside the top twenty to sixth by the end of the day from Riccardo Rossi, Moreira, Ayumu Sasaki and Holgado.
British rider Scott Ogden ended his day in 20th position on the VisionTrack Honda, while Joshua Whatley sits 24th overnight
Moto3 Dutch TT Assen | Practice 2 Results
2023 Moto3 Dutch TT | Assen, Netherlands | Practice 2 Results | Round 8 of 20 | |||||
Pos | Name | Nat. | Team | Bike | Time |
1 | Jaume Masia | ESP | Leopard Racing | Honda | 1m 41.579 |
2 | Stefano Nepa | ITA | Angeluss MTA Team | KTM | 1m 41.929 |
3 | Romano Fenati | ITA | Rivacold Snipers Team | Honda | 1m 41.982 |
4 | David Munoz | ESP | BOE Motorsports | KTM | 1m 42.002 |
5 | Xavier Artigas | ESP | CFMoto PruestelGP | CFMoto | 1m 42.159 |
6 | David Alonso | COL | GASGAS Aspar M3 | GasGas | 1m 42.200 |
7 | Riccardo Rossi | ITA | SIC58 Squadra Corse | Honda | 1m 42.224 |
8 | Diogo Moreira | BRZ | MT Helmets - MSI | KTM | 1m 42.250 |
9 | Ayumu Sasaki | JPN | Husqvarna IntactGP | Husqvarna | 1m 42.313 |
10 | Daniel Holgado | ESP | Red Bull KTM Tech3 | KTM | 1m 42.331 |
11 | Adrian Fernandez | ESP | Leopard Racing | Honda | 1m 42.556 |
12 | Andrea Migno | ITA | CIP Green Power | KTM | 1m 42.581 |
13 | Kaito Toba | JPN | SIC58 Squadra Corse | Honda | 1m 42.609 |
14 | Joel Kelso | AUS | CFMoto PruestelGP | CFMoto | 1m 42.623 |
15 | Jose Antonio Rueda | ESP | Red Bull KTM Ajo | KTM | 1m 42.652 |
16 | Matteo Bertelle | ITA | Rivacold Snipers Team | Honda | 1m 42.697 |
17 | Deniz Oncu | TUR | Red Bull KTM Ajo | KTM | 1m 42.699 |
18 | Colin Veijer | NED | Husqvarna IntactGP | Husqvarna | 1m 42.746 |
20 | Scott Ogden | GBR | VisionTrack Racing | Honda | 1m 42.809 |
19 | Ryusei Yamanaka | JPN | GASGAS Aspar M3 | GasGas | 1m 42.902 |
24 | Joshua Whatley | GBR | VisionTrack Racing | Honda | 1m 42.998 |
21 | Taiyo Furusato | JPN | Honda Team Asia | Honda | 1m 42.999 |
22 | David Salvador | ESP | CIP Green Power | KTM | 1m 43.048 |
23 | Filippo Farioli | ITA | Red Bull KTM Tech3 | KTM | 1m 43.089 |
25 | Ana Carrasco | ESP | BOE Motorsports | KTM | 1m 43.743 |
26 | Ivan Ortola | ESP | Angeluss MTA Team | KTM | 1m 43.921 |
27 | Syarifuddin Azman | MAL | MT Helmets - MSI | KTM | 1m 44.006 |
28 | Mario Suryo Aji | INA | Honda Team Asia | Honda | 1m 44.099 |