Red Bull KTM Ajo's Remy Gardner put together a stunning lap of the Circuito de Jerez - Angel Nieto to enter the record books as the fastest-ever Moto2™ rider around the Andalucian track during FP3 at the Red Bull Spanish Grand Prix. Incredibly, though, the top eight riders all went under Marcel Schrötter's previous outright lap record as the pace well and truly hotted up in the intermediate class.
???? @GardnerRemy rules the roost in FP3!
— MotoGP™???? (@MotoGP) May 1, 2021
Belting lap to take top spot! ????#Moto2 | #SpanishGP ???????? pic.twitter.com/3W33EPVC7d
Australia's Gardner was put under some pressure at the summit of the timesheets, however, with both Fabio Di Giannantonio (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) and Jorge Navarro (Lightech Speed Up) ending up less than a tenth of a second adrift of the World Championship leader's record-breaking 1:40.841. Italtrans Racing Team's Joe Roberts join the top three in an elite intermediate class club with the top four all setting 1:40 lap times for the first time ever.
Raul Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) took the final spot inside the top six ahead of Friday's fastest man: Elf Marc VDS Racing Team's Sam Lowes. Seventh and eighth were Marco Bezzecchi (SKY Racing Team VR46) and Marcel Schrötter (Liqui Moly Intact GP) after the pair set the exact same lap time. Taking the remaining places inside a top ten that was split by only 0.330 seconds was Augusto Fernandez (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) and Jake Dixon (Petronas Sprinta Racing).
The Dixon-Quartararo bromance continues ????????#Moto2 | #SpanishGP ???????? pic.twitter.com/mgumSy5sfm
— MotoGP™???? (@MotoGP) May 1, 2021
Despite falls earlier in the session, both Inde Aspar Team riders Albert Arenas and Aron Canet were able to squeeze themselves into the top 14 and book their places in Q2 for later on Saturday.
Combined top ten:
1. Remy Gardner (Red Bull KTM Ajo) - 1:40.841
2. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) + 0.020
3. Jorge Navarro (Lightech Speed Up) + 0.071
4. Joe Roberts (Italtrans Racing Team) + 0.157
5. Raul Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) + 0.161
6. Sam Lowes (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) + 0.237
7. Marco Bezzecchi (SKY Racing Team VR46) + 0.242
8. Marcel Schrötter (Liqui Moly Intact GP) + 0.242
9. Augusto Fernandez (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) + 0.285
10. Jake Dixon (Petronas Sprinta Racing) + 0.330