At the head of four victories after five Grand Prix contested, Franco Morbidelli presents himself as a solid leader of the Moto2 championship in front of his Mugello crowd. The fact remains that the Italian has never really shone on this track, only claiming eighth place as the best result in the category. It was last year. What will it be this year?
In 2016, three names particularly emerged against the clock. Johann zarco, Sam Lowes et Nakagami. Only the latter still works in Moto2 while Baldassarri had played the local hero in the race.
|
#ItalianGP Mugello Moto2 |
2016 |
2017 |
| FP1 |
1'53.592 Johann Zarco |
|
| FP2 |
1'52.944 Johann Zarco |
|
| FP3 |
1'52.382 Sam Lowes |
|
| Qualification |
1'51.965 Sam Lowes |
|
| Warm up |
1'52.458 Takaaki Nakagami |
|
| Race 1 |
Lowes, Luthi, Nakagami |
|
| Race 2 |
Zarco, Baldassarri, Lowes (see here) |
|
| All time lap record |
1'51.514 Sam Lowes 2015 |
At Le Mans, we witnessed the very first Italian double in Moto2 with the pair Morbidely bagnaia. Enough to motivate fans a little more to follow the category. Especially since the weather is good with a storm of blue skies and a track heated to 29°. Concerning the workforce, we noted the return of Brad Binder in the KTM box whileAugusto Fernandez was installed in place of bassani at Speed Up. On his side Danny Kent was getting his bearings in the box lecuona hurt.
The first reference time was signed by Pasini which, in 1'53.409, already made us forget the best performance of last year's FP1 which had been the prerogative of Johann zarco. Alex Marquez, entering the last half hour, took charge of definitively upsetting the benchmarks by offering a 1'52.885.
Franco Morbidelli did not let his teammate play the stars by improving the fastest lap in 1'52.719. It will be recalled that the Marc VDS team is undefeated since the start of this season in Moto2. An invincibility that Pasini sets out to challenge before the final quarter of an hour with a 1'52.615. On home soil, the ItalTrans rider will try to claim his first podium for his 86th Moto2 race.
The final excitement amounted to Morbidely who signed his 1'52.568 at the very moment when Marini fell heavily before getting up again, grimacing. Pasini was beaten by only 47 thousandths whileAlex Marquez completed the leading trio.
Highside for @ Luca_Marini_97 ???? #RiderOK#ItalianGP pic.twitter.com/W9hDteJMoF
- MotoGP @ 🏁 (@MotoGP) June 2, 2017
Nakagami leads the rest of the peloton with a Courses fifth with the SpeedUp preceding the KTMOlive tree. Lüthi, second in the provisional general is seventh and the top 10 is finalized by Isaac Viñales, Baldassarri et bagnaia, again best of beginners.
Virgin places the Mistral 610 fourteenth while fabio quartararo is twenty-second. For his return, Binder is twentieth behind Danny Kent.
#ItalianGP Moto2 FP1: Chronos
1. Franco Morbidelli ITA EG 0,0 Marc VDS (Kalex) 1m 52.568s
2. Mattia Pasini ITA Italtrans Racing Team (Kalex) 1m 52.615s
3. Alex Marquez SPA EG 0,0 Marc VDS (Kalex) 1m 52.787s
4. Takaaki Nakagami JPN IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia (Kalex)
1m 52.850s
5. Simone Courses ITA Speed Up Racing (Speed Up) 1m 52.989s
6. Miguel Oliveira POR Red Bull KTM Ajo (KTM) 1m 53.143s
7. Thomas luthi SWI CarXpert Interwetten (Kalex) 1m 53.410s
8. Isaac Viñales SPA BE-A-VIP SAG Team (Kalex) 1m 53.503s
9. Lorenzo Baldassarri ITA Forward Racing Team (Kalex) 1m 53.510s
10. Francis Bagnaia ITA SKY Racing Team VR46 (Kalex) 1m 53.590s
11. Sandra Cortese GER Dynavolt Intact GP (Suter) 1m 53.644s
12. Marcel schrotter GER Dynavolt Intact GP (Suter) 1m 53.688s
13. Axel Pons SPA RW Racing GP (Kalex) 1m 53.722s
14. Xavi Verge SPA Tech 3 Racing (Tech 3) 1m 53.770s
15. Yonny Hernandez COL AGR Team (Kalex) 1m 53.867s
16. Luca marini ITA Forward Racing Team (Kalex) 1m 53.869s
17. Hafiz Syahrin MAL Petronas Raceline Malaysia (Kalex)
1m 53.934s
18. Dominique Aegerter SWI Kiefer Racing (Suter) 1m 54.055s
19. Danny Kent GBR Garage Plus Interwetten (Kalex) 1m 54.078s
20. Brad Binder RSA Red Bull KTM Ajo (KTM) 1m 54.112s
21. Andrea Locatelli ITA Italtrans Racing Team (Kalex) 1m 54.318s
22. fabio quartararo FRA Pons HP40 (Kalex) 1m 54.362s
23. Jorge Navarro SPA Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 (Kalex)
1m 54.423s
24. Remy gardner AUS Tech 3 Racing (Tech 3) 1m 54.466s
25. Jesko Raffin SWI Garage Plus Interwetten (Kalex) 1m 54.489s
26. Edgar Pons SPA Pons HP40 (Kalex) 1m 54.562s
27. Xavier Simeon BEL Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2 (Kalex)
1m 54.985s
28. Stefano manzi ITA SKY Racing Team VR46 (Kalex) 1m 55.158s
29. Augusto Fernandez SPA Speed Up Racing (Speed Up) 1m 55.609s
30. Tetsuta nagashima JPN Teluru SAG Team (Kalex) 1m 55.747s
31. Frederick Fuligni ITA Forward Junior Team (Kalex) 1m 55.913s
32. Khairul Idham Pawi MAL IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia (Kalex)
1m 56.321s
33. Tarran Mackenzie GBR Kiefer Racing (Suter) 1m 56.564s
That man again! @FrankyMorbido12 fastest and # Moto2 FP1 #ItalianGP pic.twitter.com/50JtX41ThQ
- MotoGP @ 🏁 (@MotoGP) June 2, 2017
