KTM’s Raul Fernandez led Friday’s Moto2 honours at Barcelona this afternoon with his namesake, Augusto Fernandez, taking second in the combined times thanks to an impressive FP1.
Sam Lowes made it a successful Friday all round for the Marc VDS squad by securing third in both the session and overall, as the team prepared for its 200th Grand Prix weekend.
Fresh from his Mugello victory, Remy Gardner’s Barcelona weekend got off to a confident start as the Australian celebrated his future MotoGP career, having officially signed up with Tech3 KTM for 2022.
It was his current team-mate, Fernandez, however, who led the way as the opening hot-laps registered, with the rookie setting a 1’43.904 benchmark on his fourth lap of FP1 to head Bo Bendsneyder, Fabio Di Giannantonio and the VDS pairing of Lowes and Fernandez.
Lowes was on the move as the first 10-minutes concluded, sliding into second and just three-tenths adrift of the young Spaniard with his teammate following suit, for third, next time around. The top-five continued to hint at what was to come as they each set red helmets in the opening sectors, with the laps seeming to fall away as the revolutions completed, Fernandez and Lowes the only riders to improve on their times as the Spaniard leapfrogged his team-mate for second and third as the namesakes now locked out the top-two.
Barry Baltus executed an incredible save at turn five as the session continued, Marco Bezzecchi joining the top-five fight with 15-minutes gone.
The halfway stage saw little change at the top. Di Giannantonio held sixth from Gardner and Hector Garzo, with Nicolò Bulega and Marcos Ramirez completing the top-10 while Jake Dixon circulated in 18th.
12-minutes to go and it was the other Fernandez now in control of the times, as the Marc VDS rider hit the top with a 1’43.703. Gardner joined his team-mate in third on the next lap as Lowes and Bezzecchi circulated in fourth and fifth with Xavi Vierge continuing the local challenges on his rider to seventh.
Gardner displaced his fellow KTM for second on his 11th lap of FP1 as Bezzecchi leapfrogged Lowes with seven-minutes to go, the top-five separated by just 0.4s as the tightly-packed battle continued. Further back and Joe Roberts was up to P14 after a quiet start to the morning, Cameron Beaubier sitting in 18th, just one-tenth behind his countryman, with Dixon in 21st. The Brit, however, was finding his feet as the session neared its conclusion, improving to 12th, just eighth-tenths from the lead, in the closing minute.
A final flourish allowed Lowes to shine as he joined his teammate in the top-two, just 0.15s separating the Elf-sponsored duo with Gardner a painstakingly close 0.003s behind in third. Fernandez set the only other 1’43 time ahead of Bezzecchi and Garzo with Bendsneyder leading the promising Petronas pairing of Vierge and Dixon in the opening top-nine.
It was a similar story in FP2 as Fernandez returned to the top of the times after the opening efforts. Gardner besting the Marc VDS man by 0.062s with his fourth lap, as Vierge, Raul Fernandez and Lowes maintained their top-five prominence.
Bezzecchi, aiming to promote himself from his sixth place position, suffered a dramatic moment down the straight as his loosely-fixed front fairing ripped from his Kalex machine, with the Sky VR46 rider returning immediately to the pits.
Lowes was up to third after the first 10-minutes as he continued his advance on the times. The Brit took second with his seventh lap of the afternoon before topping the times with a 1’44.013 nest time around. His team-mate and Roberts both meeting the gravel, at turns 12 and two respectively with Somkiat Chantra losing the front at turn seven a few minutes later.
The mid-point of the final session saw a rejuvenated Dixon sitting 10th in the standings, Ramirez and Canet either side of him with the trio just 0.4s down on the fastest time.
Raul Fernandez took charge with 12 to go, 1’43.687 now the time to beat, as Mandalika wildcard Piotr Biesiekirski and Baltus both found the limit and ended their sessions early.
Lowes was back on a charge as the session neared its end, moving within 0.06s of the second KTM, as just two-tenths covered the top-three. His teammate returning to action for the final six minutes after his earlier off, Roberts doing likewise, with the pair circulated together as they got back up to speed.
Ai Ogura was on the move as he promoted himself to seventh with his 15th lap, demoting Di Giannantonio in the process, Marcel Schrotter and Ramirez now holding the final top-10 positions as Navarro became the next to crash out.
There was little change at the top as the chequered flag began to fly. Fernandez and Gardner retained their top-two lock out for KTM as the session reached its conclusion, Lowes and Fernandez emulating the pattern for Marc VDS in third and fourth, with the Spaniard’s morning lap enough for second in the combined standings. Vierge and Bezzecchi maintained their top-six contention from Ogura and Canet in seventh and eighth with Di Giannantonio, Schrotter and Ramirez sitting on the fringes of the top-10. Dixon consolidated 12th in the session, 13th overall to hold a provisional Q2 place overnight with Roberts and Lorenzo Dalla Porta completing FP2’s top-14 - Bendsneyder and Garzo’s FP1 efforts enough to retain their Q2 spots overall.
