It was oh-so-close in Moto2™ Q1 as honours went to Bo Bendsneyder (Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team) who pipped Somkiat Chantra (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) to the top spot by 0.011s, with Fermin Aldeguer (BETA Tools SpeedUp) just 0.001s away from the Thai rider in P3. The Spaniard’s teammate Alonso Lopez (BETA Tools SpeedUp) took the final Q2 spot bagging P4 in Q1.
Q2 got underway and it was Salac who set the benchmark on the first run and led the way ahead of Vietti and Bendsneyder. It was an unfortunate early end to the session for Barry Baltus (Fieten Olie Racing GP) who retired from the session with a technical issue. After showing strong form all weekend, it was heartbreak in the Fieten Olie Racing GP garage as the Belgian rider watched from the sidelines and battered down the order from P7 to P12.
The riders headed out for their 2nd run and it was time to get the hammer down. Strong laps came in from Jake Dixon (GASGAS Aspar Team) and Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team), but it was the flying Pedro Acosta who stormed to the top of the pile and pushed Salac down to P2. Just over a minute remaining and Dixon was on a flyer but a moment from Ai Ogura (IDEMISTU Honda Team Asia) who was right infront of Brit halted his progress as he consolidated P6. Meanwhile Vietti was on a flyer and put in the perfect final sector to push Acosta off the top spot and take pole. With Salac pushed down to P3 Bendsneyder was demoted to the front of the 2nd row and will be joined by Lopez and Dixon.
#64 Bo Bendsneyder (P4)
“I am very happy with my qualifying result today, we were very close to pole position. The most important thing at the moment is that all our effort is being rewarded, but we keep working. During the morning we ran under strange conditions, where we missed the top fourteen by only four thousandths, but I think it wasn’t all bad. I think it was good for us to do Q1, because during that session we could make a big step forward and in Q2 we could improve around the set up as well as my riding. I’m happy with today’s result, but the most important thing is tomorrow’s race where I’m going to give my maximum. I can’t wait!”.
Results Q1 & Q2 combined:
Source: motogp.com, stopandgo.es
