Spanish Grand Prix, Jerez, Moto2, FP2: Schrötter takes the initiative!

With a Speed ​​Up in the lead ahead of two official KTMs, the first free practice session of this Spanish Grand Prix on a resurfaced bitumen was a surprise. For once, the Kalex were dominated but remained in the race with a Lüthi fourth who is the best ranked of the leading trio in the championship. In fact, the leader Baldassarri was overwhelmed by technical problems for an exercise reduced to seven minutes which he ended prematurely with a fall. Schrötter is only thirteenth. Will this latest Friday release put things back in order or will it confirm a new trend?    

Before answering this question, here is the inventory with the traditional table…

Jerez Moto2™	2018 (old bitumen)	2019
FP1	1'42.836 Francesco Bagnaia	1'41.819 Jorge Navarro
FP2	1'42.537 Alex Marquez	1'42.233 Marcel Schrötter
FP3	1'41.890 Lorenzo Baldassarri
Q1	XXX
Q2	1'41.925 Lorenzo Baldassarri
warm up	1'42.370 Lorenzo Baldassarri
Course	Baldassarri, Oliveira, Bagnaia
All time lap record	1'41.890 Lorenzo Baldassarri (2018)

46° on the track and 24° in the air and a still benevolent sky, these are the conditions offered to the pilots.

It is Nagashima which signs the first reference time in 1.42.317 ahead of Navarre, author of the best time this morning and Márquez. The unknown of the weekend will be the resistance of the brand new tires offered by Dunlop which however offer a little more grip on the angle. Locatelli makes a mistake in turn 2. Martin in turn bites the dust in turn 13.

News from Pawi following his fall this morning, we learn that he will be out for the rest of the weekend, the latter in fact having to undergo surgery on his little finger. The leader of the world championship, Baldassarri points in 7th position with a time reference of 1.42.755. His runner-up in the championship, Schrötter is classified as the best 4th time, he runs in 1.42.645. In front Nagashima holds his front line in front NAVARRO et Marquez Baldassarri goes to the mat in turn 2, second fall for the Italian in two sessions!

8 minutes from the checkered flag, the Mallorcan Fernandez improves the time of Nagashima achieving a lap time of 1.42.274. Schrötter imitates him by snatching the best time, thus achieving a 1.42.267. Nagashima almost fails to get started and swings his hips in his saddle to control his machine, it slips! The leading trio is composed 2 minutes before the end of the session Schrötter, NAVARRO et Fernandez. NAVARRO who pushes the line, makes a mistake in turn 11, the wind seems to have played a bad trick on the Spaniard by helping him lose control.

At KTM, we are not celebrating during this 2nd free practice session: The first KTM is ranked 12th with Binder. The heat thus penalizes the machines on the track, with KTMs more comfortable in cooler atmospheric conditions.

End of session, Schrötter confirm before Marquez et Navarrese.

Spanish Grand Prix Jerez Moto2 FP2: times

1	23	Marcel SCHRÖTTER	Kalex	1'42.233
2	73	Alex MÁRQUEZ	Kalex	1'42.244	0.011	0.011
3	9	Jorge NAVARRO	Speed ​​Up	1'42.259	0.026	0.015
4	40	Augusto FERNANDEZ	Kalex	1'42.274	0.041	0.015
5	45	Tetsuit NAGASHIMA	Kalex	1'42.317	0.084	0.043
6	64	Bo BENDSNEYDER	NTS	1'42.353	0.120	0.036
7	12	Thomas LÜTHI	Kalex	1'42.498	0.265	0.145
8	21	Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO	Speed ​​Up	1'42.560	0.327	0.062
9	22	Sam LOWES	Kalex	1'42.573	0.340	0.013
10	87	Remy GARDNER	Kalex	1'42.604	0.371	0.031
11	10	Luca MARINI	Kalex	1'42.640	0.407	0.036
12	41	Brad BINDER	KTM	1'42.664	0.431	0.024
13	7	Lorenzo BALDASSARRI	Kalex	1'42.755	0.522	0.091
14	11	Nicolò BULEGA	Kalex	1'42.818	0.585	0.063
15	24	Simone COURSES	Kalex	1'42.832	0.599	0.014
16	33	Enea BASTIANINI	Kalex	1'42.920	0.687	0.088
17	97	Xavi VIRGIN	Kalex	1'42.928	0.695	0.008
18	5	Andrea LOCATELLI	Kalex	1'42.955	0.722	0.027
19	72	Marco BEZZECCHI	KTM	1'42.958	0.725	0.003
20	27	Iker LECUONA	KTM	1'43.000	0.767	0.042
21	88	Jorge MARTIN	KTM	1'43.178	0.945	0.178
22	4	Steven ODENDAAL	NTS	1'43.332	1.099	0.154
23	35	Somkiat CHANTRA	Kalex	1'43.565	1.332	0.233
24	62	Stefano MANZI	MV Agusta	1'43.638	1.405	0.073
25	3	Lukas TULOVIC	KTM	1'43.785	1.552	0.147
26	77	Dominique AEGERTER	MV Agusta	1'43.794	1.561	0.009
27	54	Matthias PASINI	KTM	1'43.859	1.626	0.065
28	16	Joe ROBERTS	KTM	1'43.921	1.688	0.062
29	65	Philipp ÖTTL	KTM	1'43.929	1.696	0.008
30	20	Dimas EKKY PRATAMA	Kalex	1'44.463	2.230	0.534
31	18	Xavi CARDELUS	KTM	1'47.801	5.568	3.338
	89	Khairul Idham PAWI	Kalex