Arenas sets the early marker in Moto3™ FP1

The Sama Qatar Angel Nieto squad rider was over a tenth of a second clear of home hero Niccolo Antonelli

Sama Qatar Angel Nieto Team’s Albert Arenas set the early lightweight class marker at the Grand Prix Octo di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini by getting to within a second of Jorge Martin’s outright Moto3™ lap record around the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli in the opening FP1 session of the weekend.

The Spaniard left it late to jump to the top of the timesheets and managed to usurp home hero Niccolo Antonelli (SIC58 Squadra Corse), with the Italian just over a tenth of a second behind the 1:42.824 set by Arenas. On his return to the Moto3™ class, following a three-round absence due to injury, Kömmerling Gresini Moto3’s Gabriel Rodrigo was inside the top three, 0.166 adrift of top spot.

Fourth to sixth contained all of the title protagonists, with Tony Arbolino (VNE Snipers) fourth quickest, just ahead of the World Championship leader Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Leopard Racing) in fifth and Sterilgarda Max Racing Team’s Aron Canet in sixth.

VNE Snipers’ Romano Fenati closed the opening session seventh on the timesheets, a fraction ahead of John McPhee (Petronas Sprinta Racing), who completed a top eight covered by less than half a second.

Honda Team Asia’s Ai Ogura clinched ninth but teammate Kaito Toba didn’t enjoy the same fortune after the young Japanese rider was spat over the top of his Moto3™ machine at Turn 10 in a nasty looking highside. The Qatar Grand Prix winner has been sent to the medical centre after complaining of some pain in his foot. Redox PrüstelGP’s Filip Salac completed the top ten.

FP1 top ten:
1. Albert Arenas (Sama Qatar Angel Nieto) - 1:42.824
2. Niccolo Antonelli (SIC58 Squadra Corse) + 0.121
3. Gabriel Rodrigo (Kömmerling Gresini Moto3) + 0.166
4. Tony Arbolino (VNE Snipers) + 0.235
5. Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Leopard Racing) + 0.421
6. Aron Canet (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team) + 0.430
7. Romano Fenati (VNE Snipers) + 0.458
8. John McPhee (Petronas Sprinta Racing) + 0.497
9. Ai Ogura (Honda Team Asia) + 0.610
10. Filip Salac (Redox PruestelGP) + 0.728

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