Di Giannantonio beats Bezzecchi to FP2 top spot

The Italians lead FP1 pacesetter Lowes in Moto2™ as Day 1 in Aragon draws to a close

MB Conveyors Speed Up’s Fabio Di Giannantonio cemented Moto2™ top spot on Friday at the Gran Premio Michelin® de Aragon, the pace was upped in FP2 as the Italian set a 1:52.748 to fend off second fastest Marco Bezzecchi (SKY Racing Team VR46) by 0.045 seconds. FP1 pacesetter Sam Lowes (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) finished P3 on the combined standings, but the Le Mans winner’s afternoon was slightly marred by a Turn 7 crash – rider ok.

Thankfully, the track temperatures rose in the afternoon to allow the riders to get straight down to business. Lowes’ FP1 time was a 1:53.391, but that was immediately bettered by Bezzecchi, Remy Gardner (Onexox TKKR SAG Team) and Marcos Ramirez (Tennor American Racing) in FP2. Lowes struck back though, the 2016 Aragon GP winner was flying high again as he seared to a 0.4 second lead at the top of the timesheets.

The riders then settled into the afternoon session as Lowes’ time remained unbeaten. That was until Bezzecchi, the man just ahead of Lowes in the Championship battle, went P1 with nine minutes to go. Less than a tenth was the Italian’s advantage but his time at the top was short-lived, Di Giannantonio going 0.052 faster than Bezzecchi. The final few minutes of FP2 then saw Lowes suffer a relatively gentle crash at Turn 7, before Piotr Biesiekirski (NTS RW Racing GP), Kasma Daniel (Onexox TKKR SAG Team) and Hector Garzo (Flexbox HP 40) all crashed separately as the riders were clearly pushing on for a quick lap time to end Friday on a high.

The top three remained unchanged though. After claiming P3 in FP1, Diggia climbs to P1 in the afternoon to become the man to beat heading into Saturday’s action at MotorLand Aragon. Bezzecchi finished P9 on Friday morning but faired plenty better in the afternoon to demote Lowes down to P3. The crash didn’t seem to effect Lowes in any way as two title contenders look strong in Aragon in the form of Bezzecchi and the British rider.

It was a great day for Edgar Pons (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) as the reigning European Moto2™ Champion finished P4. The Spaniard was 15th after FP1 but improved his time by over a second to leap up the timesheets, seeing him sit 0.031 seconds ahead of Championship leader Luca Marini (SKY Racing Team VR46). Thankfully for the Italian, there seem to be no ill effects from his huge Le Mans crash seven days ago and is right in the hunt to make amends in Aragon.

Second in the title race Enea Bastianini (Italtrans Racing Team) produced a superhuman save at Turn 2 in FP2 and finished the opening day in P6. The Italian climbs from a P11 finish in FP1 to take P6 as he goes in search of some much-needed form that has been missing from the past couple of races. Ramirez’ early time sees the rookie place P7 after finishing FP1 in P22, with Gardner, Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and Joe Roberts (Tennor American Racing) rounding out the top 10 on Day 1 in the intermediate class, with all but four riders across the class going quicker in FP2 than they did in FP1.

Tune in for Moto2™ FP3 at the slightly later time of 11:25 (GMT+2) to see who will earn an automatic Q2 place in qualifying.

Top 10 combined:
1. Fabio Di Giannantonio (MB Conveyors Speed Up) – 1:52.748
2. Marco Bezzecchi (SKY Racing Team VR46) + 0.045
3. Sam Lowes (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) + 0.106
4. Edgar Pons (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) + 0.269
5. Luca Marini (SKY Racing Team VR46) + 0.300
6. Enea Bastianini (Italtrans Racing Team) + 0.392
7. Marcos Ramirez (Tennor American Racing) + 0.505
8. Remy Gardner (Onexox TKKR SAG Team) + 0.506
9. Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo) + 0.577
10. Joe Roberts (Tennor American Racing) + 0.586

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