Garage Plus Interwetten rider Tom Luthi topped the timesheets on Friday in Austria, as the veteran former 125 world champion dueled it out with key rival Alex Rins (Paginas Amarillas HP 40) and championship leader Johann Zarco (Ajo Motorsport) at the top. Rins improved throughout the session to join the time attack at the front near the end of FP2, and was second quickest ahead of title rival Zarco – but it was Luthi who beat the two.
Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS rider Franco Morbidelli had a good first Friday in Austria to close out the day in P4, with Dynavolt Intact GP’s Jonas Folger completing the top 5 behind the Italian. CarXpert Interwetten’s Dominique Aegerter was P6, ahead of Morbidelli’s teammate - 2014 Moto3™ World Champion Alex Marquez in P7.
Marcel Shrotter (AGR Team) headed Assen winner Takaaki Nakagami (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) and Dynavolt Intact GP’s Sandro Cortese at the tail end of the top ten, with the 2012 Moto3™ world champion only 0.004 behind Nakagami’s time as Moto2™ proved as competitive as ever.
Championship contender Sam Lowes (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) had a difficult day 1 at the Red Bull Ring with crashes in the morning and afternoon, and ended Friday in P13 – looking for more on Saturday to keep his title campaign on the right track.
Saturday starts for Moto2™ with FP3 in the morning, before the grid prepare their final adjustments ahead of qualifying in the afternoon.
For full results from the session click here