Despite suffering from shoulder ligament damage, Marcel Schrötter (Dynavolt Intact GP) topped the Moto2™ combined Free Practice timesheets on Friday at the HJC Helmets Grand Prix de France. The German was 0.081 seconds ahead of World Championship leader Francesco Bagnaia (SKY Racing Team VR46), who was second overall despite a big crash in FP1, with Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) third overall and just 0.093 behind Schrӧtter’s fastest time. The Spaniard was also a faller, crashing at the final corner late in FP2 – rider ok.
Despite conditions seemingly more suited to setting quicker lap times this afternoon, both Schrӧtter and Marquez failed to improve on their FP1 times, with Bagnaia going over half a second quicker in FP2 to top the session. Just behind his teammate in fourth on the combined times was rookie sensation and reigning Moto3™ World Champion Joan Mir (EG 0,0 Marc VDS), who finished FP2 in second.
Here are the times for #Moto2 at the end of the Friday action in Le Mans#FrenchGP pic.twitter.com/VQ0uTCQrsa
— MotoGP™???????????? (@MotoGP) May 18, 2018
Despite finishing P19 in FP2 and crashing twice in the session, Jorge Navarro (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) was fifth overall on Friday – his FP1 time an indication he could fight it out for a front row start in qualifying. Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2’s Simone Corsi put in a strong showing in FP2, climbing up to sixth overall after finding himself P17 after FP1. Argentina race winner Mattia Pasini (Italtrans Racing Team) crashed at Turn 8 mid way through the second Free Practice session, however he still managed to improve on his FP1 time by over 0.6 seconds to end the day seventh fastest – rider ok.
Another faller in FP2 was Championship contender Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo). The Portuguese rider was ok, improving one position up to eighth in FP2 from this morning. Rookie Romano Fenati (Marinelli Snipers Team) improved from P13 in FP1 to end the day P9, setting his quickest time right at the end.
Sam Lowes (Swiss Innovative Investors), who suffered a crash in the morning, rounded out the top ten on his KTM machine and was one of four riders in the top ten to not go quicker in the second session. Home favourite Fabio Quartararo (MB Conveyors – Speed Up Racing) was just outside the top ten after both sessions. The Frenchman improved by over 0.8 seconds in the afternoon, jumping up from P15 in FP1 to end the day P12.
Jerez winner Lorenzo Baldassarri (Pons HP40) and teammate Hector Barbera both crashed in FP2, with the Italian finishing the day just outside the top ten in P11 – slipping five places from his FP1 position.
Tune in at 10:55 local time (GMT +2) when the intermediate class head back out on track for FP3.