#CatalanGP FP1 Moto2: Oliveira opens the ball

Just one week after the triumph of Mattia Pasini in Italy, the protagonists of Moto2 meet on the Barcelona track for the Catalan Grand Prix. At Mugello, the Marc VDS Racing team suffered its first defeat of the season but remains leader in the title race with Franco Morbidely. The latter has already collected 113 points but is only 13 lengths ahead of a Tom Luthi which, little by little, makes its nest.

And a priori, the Swiss is more comfortable in Montmelo than his rival for the crown. Last year, Morbidely had finished his performance eleventh after qualifying in eighteenth position. The CarXpert driver started from the front row to finish fifth. The duel therefore promises to be indecisive, especially on a revised and corrected route which opens a blank page on the chronometric references.

We will recall that Xavier Vierge et Iker Lecuona have found their handlebars after their ups and downs in previous Grands Prix.

The first performance of choice was signed on a practically dry track by Tom Luthi in 1'51.985, ahead Alex Marquez and the latest winner Pasini. Cortese followed with Suter. The response of Morbidely did not delay with a 1'50.900 which pushed back his direct opponents to a second. Virgin moved into fourth place at the end of the first quarter of an hour of the session, to the delight of the Tech3 troops.

Morbidely hit the nail on the head with a 1'50.551 which left him alone in the 1'51 zone. His closest challenger was then the rider of the Mistral610 which was the bike that gave the Kalex contingent the most trouble. A charge which will be taken over by Olive tree who, in 1'50.975 placed his KTM in second place twenty minutes from the end. During this time, Luca marini knew the pangs of the fall. For his part, fabio quartararo finished in eighteenth place, leaving the leader's jersey for beginners of the year to NAVARRO, sixth.

Ten minutes from the checkered flag, Nakagami took the lead in 1'50.325 but was immediately taken over by Olive tree in 1'50.165. The signal for the final outburst was given. Alex Marquez showed us on this occasion the family dexterity in getting out of the most delicate situations...

 

The Portuguese on the Austrian machine kept his advantage until the end of the proceedings, thus showing his intention to celebrate his hundredth Grand Prix start on Sunday. Nakagami et Morbidely follow while Lüthi et Alex Marquez complete the top5.

NAVARRO is a good sixth since first of the rookies, Syahrin is just behind in front Pasini, Baldassarri et Virgin who clings to the top 10. Fabio Quartararo is seventeenth.

The second free practice session will be this afternoon:

#CatalanGP Moto2: Chronos

1	44	Miguel OLIVEIRA	KTM	1'50.165
2	30	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	Kalex	1'50.325	0.160	0.160
3	21	Frank MORBIDELLI	Kalex	1'50.551	0.386	0.226
4	12	Thomas LUTHI	Kalex	1'50.729	0.564	0.178
5	73	Alex MARQUEZ	Kalex	1'50.790	0.625	0.061
6	9	Jorge NAVARRO	Kalex	1'50.823	0.658	0.033
7	55	Hafiz Syahrin	Kalex	1'50.982	0.817	0.159
8	54	Matthias PASINI	Kalex	1'51.049	0.884	0.067
9	7	Lorenzo BALDASSARRI	Kalex	1'51.100	0.935	0.051
10	97	Xavi VIRGIN	Tech 3	1'51.114	0.949	0.014
11	24	Simone COURSES	Speed ​​Up	1'51.138	0.973	0.024
12	23	Marcel SCHROTTER	Suter	1'51.206	1.041	0.068
13	32	Isaac VIÑALES	Kalex	1'51.241	1.076	0.035
14	42	Francesco Bagnaia	Kalex	1'51.329	1.164	0.088
15	45	Tetsuit NAGASHIMA	Kalex	1'51.448	1.283	0.119
16	11	Sandro CORTESE	Suter	1'51.507	1.342	0.059
17	40	Fabio QUARTARARO	Kalex	1'51.577	1.412	0.070
18	49	Axel PONS	Kalex	1'51.658	1.493	0.081
19	5	Andrea LOCATELLI	Kalex	1'51.691	1.526	0.033
20	19	Xavier SIMEON	Kalex	1'51.706	1.541	0.015
21	87	Remy GARDNER	Tech 3	1'51.742	1.577	0.036
22	68	Yonny HERNANDEZ	Kalex	1'51.813	1.648	0.071
23	37	Augusto FERNANDEZ	Speed ​​Up	1'51.816	1.651	0.003
24	41	Brad BINDER	KTM	1'51.986	1.821	0.170
25	77	Dominique AEGERTER	Suter	1'52.018	1.853	0.032
26	2	Jesko RAFFIN	Kalex	1'52.269	2.104	0.251
27	62	Stefano MANZI	Kalex	1'52.584	2.419	0.315
28	27	Iker LECUONA	Kalex	1'52.762	2.597	0.178
29	89	Khairul Idham PAWI	Kalex	1'52.935	2.770	0.173
30	57	Edgar PONS	Kalex	1'53.045	2.880	0.110
31	6	Tarran MACKENZIE	Suter	1'54.133	3.968	1.088
32	22	Federico FULIGNI	Kalex	1'54.234	4.069	0.101
33	10	Luca MARINI	Kalex	1'56.484	6.319	2.250

 

 

*