Solunion GasGas Aspar’s Izan Guevara guaranteed his place in the afternoon’s Moto3 Q2 shootout with a provisional pole performance in FP2.
KTM Ajo’s Jaume Masia and FP1 hero Dennis Foggia secured the top three as the rapid practice sessions concluded at Termas de Rio Hondo.
Just an hour after their opening practice, Moto3 rolled out for the final push ahead of the afternoon’s qualifying. Leopard’s Tatsuki Suzuki crashing out at turn two after heading the session standings in the opening minutes - just over half a second away from his teammate’s overall benchmark.
Mario Aji was the next to fall as the Honda Team Asia rider went down at the same corner, Guevara, Masia and Sergio Garcia sandwiched between the two Leopard machines as FP2 played out. The latter pair were the first to improve on their opening offerings as the session unfolded with Garcia taking charge overall with a 1’49.258 on his ninth attempt.
VisionTrack Honda’s Scott Ogden looked to consolidate his place in the Q2 fight with a 1’50.181 as he rose to 11th in the session standings, the Brit however, dropped to 17th overall as the mid-session shuffle and his education in the lightweight class continued.
Brazilian Diogo Moreira maintained his strong ‘home' weekend presence as he pushed the MT Helmets KTM into second in the session and third overall thanks to a 1’49.361 effort before the track fell silent ahead of the final run.
Rivacold Snipers’ Andrea Migno was the first to strike on a solitary effort as the clock counted down, the Italian setting a 1’49.835 lap to sit ninth overall but with the pack preparing for the late-session shootout, he looked far from safe as one-second covered the top 21 riders.
Guevara took charge from his GasGas Aspar teammate as the first lap registered, Foggia holding third thanks to his FP1 performance ahead of Moreira and Suzuki as Elia Bartolini crashed out at turn two. Masia storming the times with the first 1’48 of the weekend as the chequered flag prepared.
Disaster struck Ogden in the closing seconds as the Brit endured his second crash of the session, first at turn five, then turn one as his day ended prematurely from 21st.
Guevara solidified his command with a 1’48.962 over Masia, Foggia and a late charge from Migno. Garcia, Moreira and Suzuki heading Kaito Toba, Ayumu Sasaki and Daniel Holgado in the top ten with Xavi Artigas, Deniz Öncü, Carlos Tatay and Ivan Ortola claiming the final promotions through to this afternoon’s pole fight.
