Lopez dominates in a Speed Up one-two in FP3

Alonso Lopez has set the pace in Moto2™ FP3 at the at the Animoca Brands Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix. The Beta Tools Speed Up rider clocked the fastest lap in the final session before qualifying for the intermediate class around Phillip Island, a 1:32.616 which gave him a sizeable margin of 0.318 seconds over second-placed teammate Fermin Aldeguer. World Championship leader Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) took third while his nearest rival in the standings, Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) is also through to Q2 after being classified 11th across the three Free Practice sessions.

Scintillating Lopez

Most of the riders in the field were improving on their Friday pace during their first runs in FP3, and Lopez was no exception. He fired in that 1:32.616 on just his fourth flying lap and was still almost eight tenths of a second up on the field at the halfway mark of the 40-minute session. It took until the final minutes for it to look more competitive, when Aldeguer took up second on a 1:32.934. Lopez has been creating more than his fair share of action this weekend – astonishingly fast laps, a Long Lap Penalty to serve in Sunday’s race following his clash with Celestino Vietti (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) in FP1, and a big save on the grass at The Hayshed of all places in FP3!

Fernandez moved to third with a 1:32.993 on his final lap of the session, from Aron Canet (Flexbox HP40) on a 1:33.090 and Friday fast man Jake Dixon (Inde GASGAS Aspar Team) in fifth on a 1:33.194, set late in FP3. Rounding out the top 10 were Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo), Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team), Joe Roberts (Italtrans Racing Team), Bo Bendsneyder (Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team), and Filip Salac (Gresini Racing Moto2™). Ogura was 1.067 seconds off the pace in 11th, with the others already into Q2 being Jeremy Alcoba (Liqui Moly Intact GP), Cameron Beaubier (American Racing), and Sam Lowes (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team).

A tough session for Lowes, Chantra

Lowes, however, is also feeling the effects of a crash at The Hayshed with five minutes to go. Thai GP pole-sitter Somkiat Chantra (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) did likewise earlier in the session, also taking a big tumble, and he is 20th on the combined timesheet after no improvement this morning on his earlier 1:34.665. Barry Baltus (RW Racing GP) had an early spill at Siberia and Marcel Schrötter (Liqui Moly Intact GP) at MG, before Jorge Navarro (Flexbox HP40) went down at Doohan Corner.

Can Lopez do it again in qualifying? Q1 gets underway later on Saturday at 15:10 (GMT +11)!

Moto2™ Combined Top 10

1. Alonso Lopez (Beta Tools Speed Up) – 1:32.616
2. Fermín Aldeguer (Beta Tools Speed Up) + 0.318
3. Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) + 0.377
4. Aron Canet (Flexbox HP40) + 0.474
5. Jake Dixon (Inde GASGAS Aspar Team) + 0.578
6. Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) + 0.887
7. Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) + 0.928
8. Joe Roberts (Italtrans Racing Team) + 0.936
9. Bo Bendsneyder (Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team) + 0.968
10. Filip Salac (Gresini Racing Moto2) + 0.998

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