#DutchGP Moto2 FP3: Dry or rain it's always Morbidelli!

After a Friday spent sheltered from the wrath of the sky, it was a wet Saturday promising a total upheaval of the hierarchy which presented itself to the protagonists of Moto2 at Assen. Like their colleagues in Moto3 and MotoGP, the riders in the intermediate category started from scratch for a day of qualifying, promising indecision. On Friday, Franco Morbidelli had imposed its rhythm. Would it stay dry in the rain or would it wet the jersey?   

Before knowing the answer, here is the table of performances recorded on a dry track:

 

#DutchGP Moto2	2016	2017
FP1	1'38.375 Takaaki Nakagami (see here)	1'38.492 Tom Lüthi
FP2	1'37.962 Tom Lüthi (see here)	1'38.061 Franco Morbidelli
FP3	1'37.427 Johann Zarco (see here)
Qualification	1'37.954 Tom Lüthi (see here)
Warm up	1'38.033 Takaaki Nakagami (see here)
Course	Nakagami, Zarco, Morbidelli (see here)
All time lap record	1'36.346 Zarco 2015

 

17° in the air, 16° on the track, summer had somewhat escaped from the Netherlands this Saturday morning. Conditions not to put a Grand Prix driver out and moreover, Virgin inaugurated the list of falls after five minutes of exercise. Isaac Viñales et Fernandez clung and Syahrin were also getting into it. Suffice to say that it started very strong. We barely noticed the first reference in 1'56.326 of Mattia Pasini in front of the Suter Schrotter.

The same Pasini continued his effort in 1'55.712 while Yonny Hernandez was the one who gave him the best response, remembering his great performance in MotoGP a year ago, when he led the first part of the Dutch Grand Prix on the Ducati. Iker Lecuona put on a good one and Alex Marquez narrowly avoided corrections, but subscribed to the top 5.

At the end of the first quarter of an hour, Morbidely picked up the pace and set the bar in 1'54.749 ahead Lüthi et Pasini. Jorge Navarro was added to the list of riders who left their motorcycles against their will, whileAlex Marquez still clung to his, giving himself a new fright which did not prevent him from coming in second.

As the last quarter of an hour was in sight, Baldassarri took the lead in 1'54.297 and Pawi was falling. The Malaysian, so brilliant in these conditions in Moto3, did not show the same face with a Moto2.

So convincing in the dry the day before, Nakagami made a mistake ten minutes from the checkered flag. Morbidely et Pasini, they remained well and truly on the track and carried out the offensive to monopolize the first two places. To dislodge the championship leader from the top of the timesheet, it was necessary to do better than a 1'52.973. Debates that Xavier Vierge was forced to watch from the mobile clinic with a dislocated left thumb after his fall in the first moments of the session. Nagashima was the new unfortunate to appear on the list of accidents alone involved.

At the end of hostilities, it is Marini who finished the list of falls at the moment when Morbidely confirmed his supremacy in front of his teammate Alex Marquez, Pasini, Hernandez et Syahrin. Baldassarri is sixth ahead of the two Suters of Schrotter et Cortese. Courses et Lüthi complete the top 10.

At KTM, we are far away with Binder twenty-second and Olive tree twenty-fifth. Fabio Quartararo is twenty-eighth. The qualifications should take place under the same conditions…

#DutchGP Moto2 FP3: Chronos