Motegi Moto2 FP2 Japanese Grand Prix: Iker Lecuona rewarded for his work in a session truncated by rain!

Little by little but inexorably, Francesco Bagnaia (Kalex, SKY Racing Team VR46) seems to be gaining the advantage over Miguel Oliveira (KTM, Red Bull KTM Ajo), which now translates into a 28 point lead in the championship for the Italian rider. .

Of course, with 4 races still remaining to be contested, therefore a potential of 100 points to be won, nothing has yet been determined, but it has now been 4 races that the holder of the Sky VR46 team has taken the advantage over his Portuguese opponent, with notably a positive spiral generated by 3 victories and a 2nd place…

This morning, however, neither of these 2 drivers shone during a session which took place mainly in the wet, Francis Bagnaia even preferring to stay in his box during this FP1 mainly marked by the enormous fall suffered by Alex Marquez.

This afternoon, the track is drying with temperatures of 18° in the air and 19° on the ground.

Here are the available time references, although last year was marked by all the sessions on wet tracks:

Motegi Moto2™	2017	2018
FP1	2'05.460 Alex Marquez	1'56.507 Marcel Schrotter
FP2	2'05.282 Tom Lüthi	1'52.159 Iker lecuona
FP3	2'06.163 Hafizh Syahrin
Qualification	1'53.776 Takaaki Nakagami
Warm Up	2'06.905 Hafizh Syahrin
Course	Marquez, Virgo, Syahrin
All time lap record	1'49.961 Johann Zarco 2016

The good news this afternoon is thatAlex Marquez is present at the start of this FP2 despite the very big fall suffered this morning while the trajectories are now starting to dry, which the drivers are taking advantage of to use slick tires.

From his 2nd round launched, Sam Lowes (KTM, Swiss Innovative Investors) falls at turn 3 and is evacuated to the medical center while his teammate Iker Lecuona recorded a 1'54.113, already faster than the best times this morning.

In the next passage, Francis Bagnaia (Kalex, SKY Racing Team VR46) takes the lead in 1'53.116, leading fabio quartararo (Speed ​​Up, Beta Tools – Speed ​​Up Racing) in his wake, before the French driver confirmed his progress in these difficult conditions by driving alone in 1'52.821.

But for the moment, Francis Bagnaia really seems above the rest and recorded a 1'52.278 in his 7th flying lap.

A little before mid-session, Miguel Oliveira appears in the top 3, 4 tenths behind his main opponent at the world championship, but the real surprise comes from Augusto Fernandez (Kalex, Pons HP 40) which took 2nd position before Iker Lecuona (KTM, Swiss Innovative Investors) takes the lead thanks to a 1'52.159, despite being the most diligent rider on the track.

While the majority of drivers are in the box to change tires, a few drops of rain appear again.

At this moment, the hierarchy is composed of Iker Lecuona (KTM, Swiss Innovative Investors), Francis Bagnaia (Kalex, SKY Racing Team VR46), Augusto Fernandez (Kalex, Pons HP 40), fabio quartararo (Speed ​​Up, Beta Tools – Speed ​​Up Racing), Brad Binder (KTM, Red Bull KTM Ajo), Miguel Oliveira (KTM, Red Bull KTM Ajo), Nagashima, Marcel Schrötter (Kalex, Dynavolt Intact GP), Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) and Luca marini (SKY Racing Team VR46).

Following the onset of rain, and with the arrival of good weather forecast for the rest of the weekend, no one returned to the track 15 minutes from the checkered flag.

Ten minutes later, fabio quartararo returns to the track, still on slick tires, but the grip is no longer there.

This 2nd Moto2 free practice session in Motegi therefore ends in great calm…

Moto2 FP2 Japanese Grand Prix standings:

Classification credit: MotoGP.com