It was a closely fought FP2 session with every rider bar one going quicker than they did in the cooler FP1 conditions. The fastest times of the day came at the end of FP2, with Aldeguer eventually pipping Arbolino to P1 on his final flying lap. Beaubier also set his personal best lap on his final time attack effort to climb into the top three, as World Championship leader Celestino Vietti (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) struggles to P15 after crashing unhurt at Turn 5. Crucially, that’s outside the provisional automatic Q2 places. Jake Dixon (Shimoko GASGAS Aspar Team) claimed P4 on Day 1 ahead of second in the title race Aron Canet (Flexbox HP40), with FP1 pacesetter Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) P6. Reigning Moto3™ World Champion Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) went well to finish P7, Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) picked up P8 with a late effort as Jorge Navarro (Flexbox HP40) – despite a crash – and Albert Arenas (Shimoko GASGAS Aspar Team) round out the top 10. Home hero Sean Dylan Kelly (American Racing) headed to the medical centre for a check-up after a crash in FP2, thankfully he was later declared fit, as we also witnessed a crash for Gabriel Rodrigo (Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team) – he too went to the medical centre.
Bo Bendsneyder was 12th in FP1, but despite being allmost a second faster in FP2, he was in 18th at the end of FP2. So he will have to improve in FP3, trying to make it directly into Q2.
Results FP2:
Source: motogp.com, stopandgo.es
