Salac leads the way amid high drama

Filip Salac (Gresini Racing Moto2™) has upstaged Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) in a Moto2™ FP3 session at the Sachsenring which was filled with drama. After Fernandez topped both Friday intermediate class sessions at the Liqui Moly Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland, Salac set the pace in the latest running with a 1:23.640. Aron Canet (Flexbox HP40) continues to show that he is made of strong stuff by shaking off crashes at and away from the race track to go second-quickest, with the Friday fast man taking third.

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Salac’s ultimate benchmark lap time came early in the 40-minute session, and it was around then when Canet came off his bike after a moment under brakes at Turn 1. The Spaniard, who had already been persevering with injury after April's Portuguese Grand Prix, had a car crash during the week and his latest mishap left him in obvious pain. However, you cannot keep a good man down and Canet came back out near the end of proceedings to first get into the all-important top 14 with a 1:24.170, then make sure of his place in Q2 with a 1:23.853. Fernandez improved slightly compared to his FP2 pace to claim third with a 1:23.957.

Bo Bendsneyder (Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team) and Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) rounded out the top five, ahead of Albert Arenas (GASGAS Aspar Team), Joe Roberts (Italtrans Racing Team), Alonso Lopez (MB Conveyors Speed Up) – who had a late tumble at Turn 1 – Cameron Beaubier (American Racing), and Fermin Aldeguer (MB Conveyors Speed Up). Last into Q2 already is Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia), at 0.674 seconds off the pace set by Salac.

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Ogura’s effort to make the cut had the added benefit of knocking out the only man in front of him in the World Championship, namely Mooney VR46 Racing Team’s Celestino Vietti. The battle for the final spot in the top 14 became a head-to-head duel between the two key title combatants, with Vietti getting in thanks to a 1:24.353, only to be bumped almost immediately by Ogura’s 1:24.314. The Italian gave himself one more chance when he just beat the chequered flag and while he was again quick in the first sector, a slow second sector had him on the back foot before he sat up when he caught team-mate Niccolo Antonelli anyway. Meanwhile, Jake Dixon (GASGAS Aspar Team) finished 18th after an early crash and a late near-crash.

Of course, it was only one round ago that Vietti came from Q1 to qualify on pole position, and then go and win the race! Are there more such heroics to come? We will start to get some answers when Q1 kicks off later on Saturday at 15:10 (GMT +2).

Moto2™ Top 10:
1. Filip Salac (Gresini Racing Moto2) – 1:23.640
2. Aron Canet (Flexbox HP40) + 0.213
3. Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) + 0.317
4. Bo Bendsneyder (Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team) + 0.374
5. Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) + 0.412
6. Albert Arenas (GASGAS Aspar Team) + 0.460
7. Joe Roberts (Italtrans Racing Team) + 0.482
8. Alonso Lopez (Lightech Conveyors Speed Up) + 0.492
9. Cameron Beaubier (American Racing) + 0.502
10. Fermín Aldeguer (MB Conveyors Speed Up) + 0.591

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