Free Practice 2 for the Moto2™ World Championship saw track temperatures rise by over 10°C from Free Practice 1. With just over 24 minutes remaining the red flag was brought out due to a crash involving Luis Salom (SAG Team) at Turn 12. He received medical treatment trackside before being taken to the Hospital Universitari General de Catalunya for further treatment. This brought an early end to the session on safety grounds. Luis Salom unfortunately passed away soon after.
Takaaki Nakagami’s (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) 1’46.537 from Free Practice 1 stood as the fastest time of the day, only a handful of riders able to improve their times in the shortened second session. The Japanese rider’s time in Free Practice 2 was a second off his best time from the morning session, easing into the session.
In similar fashion to Nakagami, Johann Zarco (Ajo Motorsport) remained as the second fastest rider of the day with his FP1 time. The reigning World Champion ended 0.123s back on the Japanese rider. After the Catalan GP Zarco will travel to Japan to test the Suzuki MotoGP™ machine, though his future still remains uncertain.
Jonas Folger (Dynavolt Intact GP) remained the third fastest rider of the day, 0.229s behind Nakagami and only 0.106s back from Zarco. In the past, Folger starting a weekend well has usually delivered great results come race day. A return to the podium would be more than welcome for the German who has struggled to even finish races since announcing his move up to the MotoGP™ World Championship in 2017 back in Le Mans.
Franco Morbidelli (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS) led Free Practice 2 before the session was red flagged, the only rider inside the top ten to improve his time.