Enea Bastianini ended Friday’s Moto3 action at the Argentine MotoGP round topping both FP1 and FP2 with Ronao Fenati and Andrea Migno making it an all-Italian top three.
Having topped the timing tables in FP1, Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing Moto3) headed into Free Practice 2 full of anticipation. The opening practice session saw riders in the Moto3™ World Championship struggle for grip, the rear of their machines spinning up due to the fine dust on the circuit. With both the MotoGP™ and Moto2™ classes having had a session on track, the circuit was in a much better condition and Bastianini’s 1’52.467 quickly fell as Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) took command early in the session.
With rain and thunderstorms predicted for the coming days, these sessions could be the only dry track time the riders get. Fortunately, it is far easier to go from a dry setting to a wet setting than the reverse, even just two sessions providing a good base of data for teams and riders to work with.
By mid-session all but two riders had improved their times, Bastianini back on top. ‘The Beast’ would remain unbeaten as he continued his fine form at the track to lead both FP1 and FP2. His 1’51.137 was still over two seconds off the circuit record, but did show significant improvement from the morning session.
Just behind were Sky Racing Team VR46 teammates Fenati and Migno, the pair within 0.166s of their countrymen. Fenati took a hard fought victory at the Termas de Rio Hondo back in 2014 and is aiming to once again take to the top step of the box after a disappointing Qatar.
Brad Binder continued his hard work, completing 16 laps and setting the fourth fastest lap time of Friday, a 1’51.350. So far in 2016 Binder has been a near perfect teammate to Bo Bendsneyder (Red Bull KTM Ajo), allowing the rookie to follow him and learn the tracks of the World Championship.
Completing the top five was Jorge Navarro (Estrella Galicia 0,0), the Spaniard only 0.274s back on Bastianini. Overall it was an incredibly close session with the top 15 all within a second of the top.
Livio Loi (RW Racing GP BV), Juanfran Guevara (RBA Racing Team), Fabio Quartararo (Leopard Racing), Philipp Oettl (Schedl GP Racing) and rookie Nicolo Bulega (Sky Racing Team VR46) rounded out the top ten.
There was an early fall for Tatsuki Suzuki (CIP-Unicom Starker) at Turn 9, he was uninjured and re-joined the session. Niccolo Antonelli (Ongetta-Rivacold) suffered a late fall at Turn 1 and was also able to walk away unhurt.
