Deniz Öncü set Friday’s fastest time in Moto3 free practice at MotorLand Aragón as the Red Bull Tech3 KTM held court with a 1’58.929.
The Turkish rider held off GasGas Aspar’s Izan Guevara and Petronas SRT’s Darryn Binder in the heated afternoon session with Sergio Garcia joining his rookie teammate in the top four.
Rivacold Snipers’ Andrea Migno led the way as a cool Friday practice kicked off in the Spanish mountains before Silverstone hero Romano Fenati arrived with a 2’01.870. Petronas replacement rider Syarifuddin Azman faced a dramatic start to his Moto3 career after a coming together with Adrian Fernandez at turn 14 resulted in the pair’s bikes tangling and the Malaysian down on the deck.
Lorenzo Fellon sat second after 10 minutes on track with Xavi Artigas, Niccolò Antonelli and Binder heading Pedro Acosta in the top six.
Fenati continued to improve the pace aboard his Max Racing Husqvarna - on the bubble of the two-minute mark - as Jaume Masia joined him in the top two, fellow KTM rider Öncü taking over in the runners up spot mid session. Migno sat third with Antonelli holding fast towards the top of the times as Dennis Foggia and Filip Salac joined the party. Gabriel Rodrigo was the next to improve, finding fifth at the halfway stage before Foggia immediately dropped him on his way to fourth.
The Leopard rider was the man on the move with 15 minutes remaining as he continued his climb up the standings, sitting second, less than two-tenths from Fenati’s benchmark time but it was Antonelli who would eventually take charge. The Avintia VR46 rising to the top with a 2’00.810 on his 10th lap of the opening session.
Fenati was back in charge for the final five minutes, rookie Xavi Artigas proving his impressive Aragón pedigree to sit second, before Migno hit the top once again as the first rider to break into the 1’59’s. The pack continued to fire in the hot-laps as the clock counted down, Rodrigo and Antonelli the next to win out over the BritishGP victor, in second and third, as Fernandez joined his teammate in the top five. Masia returned to sixth from Fellon and Ayumu Sasaki, as Artigas dropped to ninth.
The final shuffles saw Salac and Acosta at the top, as the championship leader advanced from 14th despite a gaggle of traffic, 1’59.309 the time to beat but with a blaze of red across the timing screens in the final minute.
Rodrigo claimed the honours as the flag came out with a 1’59.131, Antonelli slotting into third in the dying seconds.
The afternoon delivered 26℃ sunshine and over 40℃ track temperatures as the lightweight class set out for its second 40-minute practice.
Tatsuki Suzuki was the man in charge after the opening shots were fired. Foggia and Binder rising to the top three after four laps of action with Fellon and Jeremy Alcoba the only other riders under the two-minute barrier in the early stages.
Foggia hit the top at the halfway stage with a 1’59.432 before the Italian continued to fly, shaving tenths off his benchmark time next time around. Further down the standings, his teammate Artigas challenged Fenati for seventh, with fellow rookies Acosta and Guevara rounded out the top 10.
Migno returned to the front runners in the final quarter of an hour, seventh-tenths adrift of the fastest time and seventh in the session while Foggia and Fellon were so far the only riders to have improved on their morning efforts in the overall times.
Guevara stormed the times with 10 to go, a 1’58.974 sitting him in a commanding position as the first rider to break through the 1’59’s. Fenati suffering opposing fortunes as he returned to the garage needing repairs to his Husqvarna handlebars.
Improvements for Migno and Sergio Garcia found the pair in fifth and seventh respectively, Kaito Toba and Carlos Tatay joining the session’s top 14, albeit still adrift of Q2 contention in the combined times.
The final five minutes saw the pack roll out en-masse for the closing shootout. Antonelli the first to strike as the Italian found third before he improved his time with his second attempt. Öncü took charge in the closing minute, just 0.045s ahead thanks to his 1’58.929. Guevara holding second from Binder, Garcia and a last-second charge from Masia. Salac headed Antonelli as the session concluded, Fenati, Fellon and Fernandez completing the top 10 with Rodrigo’s morning effort slotting into sixth overall.
