He was eighth in FP1 but second in the Championship Jorge Martin (Del Conca Gresini Moto3) ended the opening day at the Gran Premio Octo di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini on top of the pile, setting a 1:42.324 in the second Free Practice session to go 0.092 faster than Championship leader Marco Bezzecchi (Redox PrustelGP), with fellow Italian rider Enea Bastianini (Leopard Racing) in third – 0.138 back from Martin’s benchmark after ending FP1 down in P19.
#Moto3 FP2 ????@88jorgemartin tops the second and final lightweight session of the day ????#SanMarinoGP pic.twitter.com/YKPm28GLnm
— MotoGP™???????????? (@MotoGP) September 7, 2018
The lightweight class managed to dodge the forecasted rain in Misano, with everyone bar Jaume Masia (Bester Capital Dubai) – who had four mechanical problems in across FP1 and FP2 – improving on their Friday morning times. Fourth on the day was Gabriel Rodrigo (RBA BOE Skull Rider), improving by one position from FP1, with Aron Canet (Estrella Galicia 0,0) dropping two positions from 3rd to 5th to complete to top five on the combined timesheets.
Philipp Oettl (Sudmetal Schedl GP Racing) was second quickest in the morning, with the German rider finishing sixth overall on day one – just 0.005 off Canet’s time. Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Leopard Racing) was seventh on board his Honda on home soil, jumping up two positions from P9 in FP1, with fellow Italian and wildcard rider Kevin Zannoni (TM Racing Factory 3570 MTA) having a great opening day in Misano – eighth overall. Tony Arbolino (Marinelli Snipers Team) and Dennis Foggia (SKY Racing Team VR46) rounded out the top ten in P9 and P10 respectively to make it 6/10 on the opening day for the Italian’s in front of their home fans.
Wildcard Yari Montella (SIC58 Squadra Corse) and Adam Norrodin (Petronas Sprinta Racing) crashed – riders ok.
Will Bezzecchi bite back on Saturday? Find out when Moto3™ FP3 gets underway at 09:00 local time (GMT +2).
Click here for the full results!