Sam Lowes dominated Friday’s Moto2 free practice in Qatar holding off Marco Bezzecchi and 2020 pole-man Joe Roberts with a 1’58.959 lap time.
The only rider to break the 1’59 barrier, Lowes had spent the majority of the night-time session at the top of the standings, initially with fellow Brit Jake Dixon for company. The Petronas rider eventually ending FP2 ninth in the combined times.
Current Moto3 Champion Albert Arenas joins seven other rookies in the intermediate class for 2021 with a number of the new recruits showing promising early form throughout pre-season testing. His title-challenge adversaries Ai Ogura and Tony Arbolino, Raul Fernandez, Barry Baltus - the youngest rider at just 16 and with only one season of GP experience to his name - Celestino Vietti, Yari Montella and MotoAmerica standout Cameron Beaubier all taking to the Doha track as their debut official practice got underway.
The initial FP1 charge saw Bo Bendsneyder set the pace to beat after just three laps on track, Jake Dixon and Sam Lowes following closely behind as the only riders so far into the 2’00 mark. Jorge Navarro sitting best of the rest ahead of the impressive KTM pairing of Fernandez and Remy Gardner.
The 30-minute mark saw Lowes take control with a 2’00.474 on his fourth lap, Marco Bezzecchi following suit on the next revolution to sit three-hundredths back from his expected title-rival. A steady mid-session left the times unchanged until Bezzecchi again mounted an attack, securing the lead by just 0.016 with six minutes remaining of the opening practice. Fabio di Giannantonio was the next to advance the standings, this time to third, with Ogura unlucky to go down at the final corner on a personal best.
FP1 closed with Bezzecchi maintaining control over Lowes and di Giannantonio, Bendsneyder and Gardner sat top-five ahead of Navarro, Dixon, Arenas, Fernandez and Marcos Ramirez, but with temperatures far above the expected race conditions, the intense work was still to come.
A patriotic start to FP2 saw Lowes lead the way from an impressive Dixon, as the Petronas rider put in a personal best performance on his fifth lap of the evening session. Lowes looked comfortable almost half a second clear of the rest as he continued to hone his times, 1’59.140 the current reference with the Marc VDS man continuing to set the screens ablaze in red.
KTM rookie Fernandez was the first rider to challenge, besting Dixon for second with 25 minutes to go as Bezzecchi and Gardner hassled in fourth and fifth respectively while Bendsneyder had Nicolò Bulega and Marcel Schrotter for company further behind.
The mid-session lull was broken by Joe Roberts just as the closing 10 minutes approached. The American storming his way to second with a 1’59.401 lap before Bezzecchi hit back moments later. Gardner improved alongside teammate Fernandez as the final seven minutes began only for the pair to be outdone by Bulega next time round.
The Australian was far from done, however, as he dispatched a lap worthy of fourth place, Bendsneyder emulating him as the Gresini rider was again demoted, now to sixth, with Roberts shaving further tenths of his impressive times. Three minutes to go and a previously quiet Xavi Vierge finally made his presence known as he advanced into the top-four.
Lowes concluded the session at the top of the times as the only rider to set a 1’58 time, Bezzecchi and Roberts claiming podium-worthy positions in the free practice standings from Vierge, Gardner, Bendsneyder and Bulega. Fernandez secured eighth from Dixon and Navarro with Schrotter, Arbolino, Tom Luthi and Aron Canet claiming the provisional Q2 promotion places.
Lorenzo Baldassarri finished best of the rest in 15th from di Giannantonio, Ramirez, Lorenzo Dalla Porta and Vietti. Simone Corsi sat 20th ahead of Arenas, Somkiat Chantra, Stefano Manzi and Beaubier, while Ogura, Hector Garzo, Augusto Fernandez, Montella, Baltas and Hafizh Syahrin completed the 30 Moto2 riders.
