Sam Lowes (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) leads a tightly packed Moto2™ FP1 field at the Motul TT Assen thanks to his 1:38.151 on Friday morning, the British rider heads Lorenzo Baldassarri (FlexBox HP 40) by just 0.006 as replacement rider Jonas Folger (Petronas Sprinta Racing) completes a top three split by 0.048 of a second.
The flag flies on #Moto2 FP1 and it's @SamLowes22 who takes top honours! ????
— MotoGP™ ???????? (@MotoGP) June 28, 2019
A nod to @JonasFolger94 who ends the session in third in just his second GP back, since taking a leave of absence towards the end of 2017! ????#DutchGP ???????? pic.twitter.com/KALB8XPuDH
The sun was starting to creep out from behind the clouds in the Netherlands as the intermediate class began their weekend’s work at the TT Circuit Assen, but it was a disappointing start to proceedings as we saw the Red Flags come out for a crash involving Dimas Ekky Pratama (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) and Stefano Manzi (MV Agusta Idealavoro Forward). The Indonesian rider crashed heavily at Turn 11 and was taken to the medical centre by ambulance, before heading to Assen hospital to be treated on a Cranial Thoracic Abdominal trauma.
Once the session had restarted, the laps were piling in and by the end of FP1, there was barely anything between the top five. Lowes led the way from Baldassarri and Folger, with Remy Gardner (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) 0.080 off top spot in fourth and Championship leader Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) in fifth place – 0.085 the gap. Tom Lüthi (Dynavolt Intact GP), the man second in the Moto2™ title race, was sixth quickest as the Championship protagonists got off to a good start in Assen.
Joe Roberts (American Racing KTM) crashed during FP1, rider ok.
The intermediate class will be back out for FP2 at 15:10. Who will hold the advantage heading into Saturday?
Top 10:
1. Sam Lowes (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) – 1:38.151
2. Lorenzo Baldassarri (FlexBox HP 40) + 0.006
3. Jonas Folger (Petronas Sprinta Racing) + 0.042
4. Remy Gardner (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) + 0.080
5. Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) + 0.085
6. Thomas Lüthi (Dynavolt Intact GP) + 0.138
7. Jorge Navarro (Beta Tools Speed Up) + 0.173
8. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) + 0.177
9. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Beta Tools Speed Up) + 0.186
10. Marcel Schrötter (Dynavolt Intact GP) + 0.237
Click here for the full results!