Andrea Migno came out on top after another bitterly cold Moto3 practice in Spain this morning but conditions ensured Raul Fernandez retained his control of the overall standings heading into qualifying for the Aragon GP.
A strong late effort from John McPhee saw the Petronas rider initially safe and sitting inside the top-seven before a spate of yellow flag infringements saw the times deleted, leaving the disappointed Scot in 18th.
An hour later but an even colder morning greeted the Moto3 class for Saturday’s opening FP3 at Motorland Aragon as track temperatures fluctuated around 8-10℃ despite the delay to proceedings. As the action got going it was Jaume Masia who claimed the early lead in the standings, Deniz Öncü, Tatsuki Suzuki and John McPhee marking out the top-four with McPhee advancing to second on his third attempt. Raul Fernandez returned to the top on his next revolution, before Carlos Tatay bettered, however, the current pace remained two seconds below Friday’s benchmark, with half an hour to go.
The mid-session saw the majority of the field return to the pits, Tatay, Darryn Binder and McPhee in charge of the top-three as the second runs began but the Scot, so far, remained adrift of the all-important Q2 positions. Barry Baltas became the first casualty of turn two in the opening 10 minutes with Kaito Toba succumbing in dramatic style on his outlap with 18’ left to go.
As the action warmed up, Celestino Vietti and Andrea Migno became the first riders of the day to break the two minute barrier, the latter Sky man advancing to P1 on his next lap but still shy of the time needed for automatic promotion by a mere tenth. It was an issue he easily corrected on his 10th attempt as he retained control with a 1’59.169, Fernandez and Suzuki his closest rivals as the final attacks began.
Alonso Lopez launched for the lead as the countdown hit five to go with Öncü stealing the position moments later, Niccolò Antonelli and McPhee sat outside the top-14 as the last minute began but the SIC58 rider put in a determined effort to head the session standings and grant him a Q2 place.
A late crash, again at turn two, saw Maximilian Kofler out along with the yellow flags, with the flying laps of the majority of the field under way and under threat due to the incident. McPhee’s final lap saw him sitting seventh in the session as the chequered flag dropped but with a number of laps cancelled due to infringements under yellows it was a waiting game before the official classification was announced.
Eventually Migno was declared the session victor, with a 1’58.880, from Jeremy Alcoba and Antonelli while Fernandez retained control of the standings overall. Romano Fenati, Albert Arenas, Binder and Suzuki claimed the top-five in the combined times as Sergio Garcia, Migno, Masia, Ai Ogura and Vietti concluded the top-10. Alcoba and Antonelli’s morning effort sat them in 11th and 12th overall with Lopez and Öncü stealing the final promotion spaces. McPhee missing out as his fast time was deleted, finishing the session 18th and heading for this afternoon’s Q1.
