#AustralianGP Moto2 FP3: Oliveira with the KTM and a crash festival

The reputation of the Phillip Island route means that you can experience the four seasons in just a few minutes. A specificity verified this morning since, after a final free practice session of Moto3 on a dry track followed by a wet MotoGP exercise, it was once again an Australian bitumen without the slightest hulidity which offered itself to the Moto2 responsible for completing this first part of Saturday. What to disturb Nakagami, imperial yesterday Friday?

Before answering this question, here is a reminder of the situation in table…

#AustralianGP Moto2™	2016	2017
FP1	1'47.629 Jonas Folger	1'33.313 Takaaki Nakagami
FP2	Canceled	1'33.310 Takaaki Nakagami
FP3	1'38.206 Johann Zarco
Qualification	1'33.992 Tom Lüthi
Warm Up	1'33.965 Franco Morbidelli

 

The track, however, was not that welcoming since, as soon as he left the track, Alex Marquez took an excursion to the lower side. This under the eyes of a Marini crumpled by his violent fall suffered the day before but fit for combat under a sun heating the arena to 23° and the air to 14°.

In 1'34.647, Olive tree set the tone with his KTM in front Schrotter, the leader of the championship Morbidely and the stage location Remy gardner operating on the Mistral 610. lecuona fell at turn 3 and Baldassari at turn 3. Nakagami was a careful twenty-ninth and Lüthi, second overall, 19 points behind Morbidely, thirteenth.

Cautious the Japanese, but not so much in the end since he made a mistake at turn 10 by overtaking a Edgar Pons become collateral damage. The Idemitsu rider spontaneously apologized to the Spaniard who picked up his bike and returned to the track.

At this stage of the competition, alone Remy gardner had improved its lot compared to Friday. At the start of the last quarter of an hour, the flag signaling rain was waved. All the pilots immediately returned home. However, we learned of a dislocated shoulder for Baldassarri following his accident. With a Marini already diminished, this Australian Grand Prix promised to be painful for the Forward team.

Ten minutes from the checkered flag, the troop decided to return to coal. For a series of accidents. Schrotter fell at turn 4 while going inside to NAVARRO. Pasini went to the ground at turn 10 and Axel Pons had a trick at turn 8. His brother Edgar went back to the ground at the same turn 10 which had seen him come into contact with Nakagami a few minutes before.

Despite everything, there was performance to be had from this tricky track since Olive tree improved his leadership in 1'34.122 and was pursued by the SpeedUp of Courses and the Kalex of bagnaia, these two men are invited into the leading trio.

It was noted that the fastest Interwetten pilot was not a Lüthi twelfth but rather one Raffin ninth. Olive tree went below the 1'34 mark with a 1'33.919 giving him half a second ahead of his runner-up in the session.

Gardner completed the long list of crashes at turn 6. We left it there with three different chassis in the leading trio: Olive tree in the lead with the KTM followed by bagnaia the beginner in Kalex and Courses with the SpeedUp. Morbidely was fourth in front of the other KTM from Brad Binder. Lüthi is only fifteenth and Quarterly twentieth before the qualifications to follow.

#AustralianGP Moto2 FP3: Chronos