Canet finishes Friday fastest as Vietti claims P2

It was a thrilling start to the weekend for Moto2™ at the Gran Premio Red Bull di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini, with Aron Canet (Fantic Racing) ending Friday quickest after the Spaniard set a magnificent 1:35.561. Canet waited until the time five minutes to fly to the top, ending the day with a 0.131s advantage over Celestino Vietti (Red Bull KTM Ajo). The Italian will be hoping for a good weekend at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli – finishing in front of Manuel Gonzalez (QJMOTOR Gresini Moto2™). The #18 had a strong day, finishing in P3 after leading most of the session.

Friday’s action began with FP1 and Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) storming to the top of the timesheets. It was a dramatic start to the weekend for some, with Sergio Garcia (MT Helmets – MSI) crashing in the closing minutes of the session at Turn 2. Once Practice 2 began it was a thrilling opening stage as Gonzalez set a phenomenal benchmark time that would stand until the final 10 minutes. Arbolino tried to match the #18’s pace, losing time in the final sector as Canet found a significant chunk of time - stealing P1 honours.

Arbolino took fourth, ending a brilliant day for the #14, who worked hard throughout Practice 1 – setting 20 laps. Meanwhile, Albert Arenas ended a great day for the QJMOTOR Gresini Moto2™ squad, securing the final spot inside the top five. Ai Ogura (MT Helmets – MSI) was sixth, looking strong on the first day of action. Ogura was the top Boscoscuro rider, finishing ahead of Beta Tools SpeedUp’s Alonso Lopez in seventh as Somkiat Chantra (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) rounded out a talented top eight.

The final spots inside the top 10 were occupied by Fermin Aldeguer (Beta Tools SpeedUp) and Filip Salac (Elf Marc VDS Racing). Further back, Marcos Ramirez (OnlyFans American Racing) was 11^th with Diogo Moreira (Italtrans Racing Team) taking P12 at the end of proceedings. CFMOTO Inde Aspar Team’s Jake Dixon finished the day in 13^th after a crash at Turn 8 as teammate Izan Guevara took the final spot inside the top 14 - earning a provisional spot in Q2. It was also a tricky day for some key Championship contenders, with Joe Roberts (OnlyFans American Racing Team) down in 20^th and the Championship leader, Garcia in P24.

The action does not stop there, with Moto2™ returning to the track for an important Practice 2 on Saturday at 09:25 local time (UTC +2) before an unpredictable qualifying gets underway at 13:45 local time, so make sure you join us then and keep up to date with the action on motogp.com!

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