Arenas holds on to top spot as a second covers Moto3™ top 26

Moto3™ looks like being at it’s absolute best at Misano with the time super tight at the top

Sama Qatar Angel Nieto’s Albert Arenas clung on to top spot on the Moto3™ timesheets despite failing to improve on his lap of 1:42.824 from this morning’s FP1 session at the Grand Prix Octo di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini.

The Spaniard did, however, manage to top FP2 with a 1:43.017; giving an indication that he’s got a little bit more than just one lap speed around the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli. In fact, none of the top three from this morning managed to improve in FP2 and, due to temperatures souring in Italy, nobody was able to challenge them. Therefore, Arenas, Niccolo Antonelli (SIC58 Squadra Corse) and Gabriel Rodrigo (Kömmerling Gresini Moto3) will lead the way into FP3.

The first of the improvers was John McPhee (Petronas Sprinta Racing), who found a quarter of a second to jump from eighth on the timesheets to fourth. VNE Snipers’ Tony Arbolino also failed to improve on his lap from this morning but slipped just a place back to fifth, ahead of McPhee’s teammate Ayumu Sasaki in sixth.

Romano Fenati (VNE Snipers) was able to find a further tenth of a second and as a result ended the day seventh, ahead of World Championship leader Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Leopard Racing). The Italian’s closest title rival, Sterilgarda Max Racing Team’s Aron Canet, crashed out late in FP2 but failed to improve his time so slipped back to eleventh.

WWR’s Andrea Migno eventually ended ninth at the close of day one after putting some handbags with Sergio Garcia (Estrella Galicia 0,0) to one side. Honda Team Asia’s Ai Ogura completes to top ten but it was again frustration in the other side of the Honda Team Asia garage after Kaito Toba once again crashed out. There was also a second crash of the day for an Öncü but this time it was twin brother Deniz after he replaced Can, who was ruled out with a broken collarbone from his FP1 crash.

Top 10 combined:
1. Albert Arenas (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team) 1:42.824
2. Niccolo Antonelli (SIC58 Squadra Corse) + 0.121
3. Gabriel Rodrigo (Kömmerling Gresini Moto3) + 0.166
4. John McPhee (Petronas Sprinta Racing) + 0.228
5. Tony Arbolino (VNE Snipers) + 0.235
6. Ayumu Sasaki (Petronas Sprinta Racing) + 0.267
7. Romano Fenati (VNE Snipers) + 0.279
8. Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Leopard Racing) + 0.318
9. Andrea Migno (WWR) + 0.393
10. Ai Ogura (Honda Team Asia) + 0.399

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