Pedro Acosta got his bid for a much desired home victory ahead of his graduation to MotoGP off to a strong start after topping both P1 and P2 to lead the way early on in the Valencia Moto2 season finale.

The Red Bull KTM Ajo rider kept rivals at a comfortable arm’s length during the faster afternoon session to end Friday with a benchmark lap time of 1m 33.768secs.

It puts the 2023 Moto2 World Champion in good stead for a third and final attempt at landing a victory on home soil to cap off his title-winning campaign having come up short in Jerez and Barcelona.

Running Acosta closest come the end of P2 was form man Fermin Aldeguer, the Speed Up Racing rider well placed to potentially become only the second rider in Moto2 history to win four consecutive races.

Aron Canet completed an all-Spanish top three as his Pons Racing team begins its swansong event before exiting the series, marginally ahead of Jake Dixon and Sam Lowes in fourth and fifth, the British duo ensuring their candidacy for victory contention at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo.

Second to Acosta in P1, Celestino Vietti slipped to sixth by the end of play, ahead of American Racing’s late season standout Marcos Ramirez, while team-mates Joe Roberts and Dennis Foggia made for an Italtrans tandem in eighth and ninth, with Tony Arbolino tenth.

Elsewhere, Ai Ogura and Manuel Gonzalez were the highest profile names to fall foul of the tricky Valencia venue, the pair crashing themselves down the order to 13th and 15th.

Ahead of what will likely be his final outing with American Racing, Rory Skinner was 26th of the 32 riders.

2023 Valencia Moto2, Circuit Ricardo Tormo - Results after Practice 2

Friday - Conditions: Sunny, Dry

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