#JapaneseGP Moto3 FP1: Nicolo Bulega regal in the wet

One of Valentino Rossi's colts, Nicolo Bulega entered in the colors of Sky Racing Team VR46, completely dominated the first session in the rain ahead of his Sky Racing Team VR46 teammate Andrea Migno, Romano Fenati, Aron Canet, Manuel Pagliani ( pilot of the CIP of Alain Bronec) and Fabio di Giannantonio.

#JapaneseGP Moto3™	2016	2017
FP1	1'57.523 Nicolo Bulega	2'09.577 Nicolo Bulega
FP2	1'56.982 Enea Bastianini
FP3	1'56.651 Brad Binder
Qualification	1'56.443 Hiroki Ono
Warm Up	1'57.455 Hiroki Ono
Course	Bastianini, Binder, Bulega (Ono disqualified, see here)
All time lap record	1'56.443 Hiroki Ono 2016

 

 

As the first free practice session was being prepared, the arrival of Lorenzo Dalla Porta was announced at Leopard Racing for 2018, where he will team up with Enea Bastianini. This was quite a surprise as Dalla Porta hasn't shown any exceptional abilities so far, but good for him. In Motegi, on this Friday morning, the air temperature was 14°, that of the track 16° and it was raining. There was no wind at all to blow away the clouds. Everyone set off on rain tires, without the slightest hesitation.

Joan Mir was the first to set a fast time in the wet in 2'16.9. The trail was uniformly soggy, with standing water in places. On a circuit with 7 heavy braking, it was not ideal. Andrea Migno took the lead in 2'14.1, just ahead of her teammate Nicolo Bulega. Migno continued to progress in 2'12.3. Three KTMs dominated the “home” Hondas with 25 minutes to go. Migno and Bulega were in 2'12.1, while Romano Fenati came third, but 0.8 behind his two compatriots.

Andrea Migno and Nicolo Bulega clearly dominated mid-session, in 2'11.2. John McPhee was third at 1.7. Fenati moved up to third position, 1.2 behind his former colleagues from Sky Racing Team VR46. Joan Mir quietly occupied twelfth position. In any case, he was penalized with a drop of six positions on the starting grid at Motegi after zigzagging in the straight during the last lap in Aragon.

Definitely in very good shape, Nicolo Bulega regained command in 2'10.6, 0.2 ahead of Andrea Migno, and 1.8 ahead of Romano Fenati. At the same time, Bulega and Migno, wheel to wheel, were those who had rotated the most since the start of the session. In the final minutes, Aron Canet, who had been discreet until then, climbed into third position, separated by less than a tenth from Romano Fenati, Bo Bendsneyder, John McPhee, then all these wonderful people were joined by Fabio di Giannantonio. Nakarin Atiratphuvapat was the first to fall, without gravity, 3 minutes from the checkered flag.

At the end of the session, Andrea Migno achieved a very good 2'10.064, 0.2 ahead of Nicolo Bulega and 0.7 ahead of Romano Fenati. Bulega took the best time in 2'09.577 ahead of his Sky Racing Team VR46 teammate Andrea Migno, Romano Fenati, Aron Canet, Manuel Pagliani (Alain Bronec's CIP driver) and Fabio di Giannantonio.

Ranking of the first free practice session:

1. Nicholas Bulega ITA SKY Racing Team VR46 (KTM) 2m 9.577s 
2. Andrea Migno ITA SKY Racing Team VR46 (KTM) 2m 9.705s 
3. Roman Fenati ITA Marinelli Rivacold Snipers (Honda) 2m 9.896s 
4. Aron canet SPA Estrella Galicia 0,0 (Honda) 2m 10.068s 
5. Manuel Pagliani ITA CIP (Mahindra) 2m 10.759s 
6. Fabio DiGiannantonio ITA Del Conca Gresini Moto3 (Honda) 2m 11.055s 
7. Adam Norrodin MAL SIC Racing Team (Honda) 2m 11.105s 
8. Niccolo Antonelli ITA Red Bull KTM Ajo (KTM) 2m 11.240s 
9. Tatsuki suzuki JPN SIC58 Squadra Corse (Honda) 2m 11.429s 
10. Will Bendsneyder NED Red Bull KTM Ajo (KTM) 2m 11.477s 
11. Ayumu Sasaki JPN SIC Racing Team (Honda) 2m 11.526s 
12. John mcphee GBR British Talent Team (Honda) 2m 11.880s 
13. Philipp Oettl GER Südmetall Schedl GP Racing (KTM) 2m 11.952s 
14. Joan mir SPA Leopard Racing (Honda) 2m 12.152s 
15. Marco Bezzecchi ITA CIP (Mahindra) 2m 12.218s 
16. Lorenzo Dalla Porta ITA Aspar Mahindra Moto3 (Mahindra) 2m 12.305s 
17. Nakarin Atiratphuvapat THA Honda Team Asia (Honda) 2m 12.394s 
18. Juanfran Guevara SPA RBA BOE Racing Team (KTM) 2m 12.404s 
19. Enea Bastianini ITA Estrella Galicia 0,0 (Honda) 2m 12.500s 
20. Tony Arbolino ITA SIC58 Squadra Corse (Honda) 2m 12.563s 
21. Albert Arenas SPA Aspar Mahindra Moto3 (Mahindra) 2m 12.663s 
22. George Martin SPA Del Conca Gresini Moto3 (Honda) 2m 12.683s 
23. Livio Law BEL Leopard Racing (Honda) 2m 12.909s 
24. Jules Danilo FRA Marinelli Rivacold Snipers (Honda) 2m 13.110s 
25. Marcos Ramirez SPA Platinum Bay Real Estate (KTM) 2m 13.310s 
26. Jakub Kornfeil CZE Peugeot MC Saxoprint (Peugeot) 2m 13.431s 
27. gabriel rodrigo ARG RBA BOE Racing Team (KTM) 2m 14.173s 
28. Patrick Pulkkinen END Peugeot MC Saxoprint (Peugeot) 2m 15.592s 
29. Darryn binder RSA Platinum Bay Real Estate (KTM) 2m 15.736s 
Kaito Toba JPN Honda Team Asia (Honda) 2m 18.961s 
Tom Toparis AUS Cube Racing (KTM) 2m 19.657s

Reference times:

Test record: 1'56.443 by Hiroki Ono (Honda Team Asia) in 2016

Lap record: 1'57.112 by Alex Marquez (Honda Estrella Galicia 0,0) in 2014

Best top speed: 224,3 km/h for Efren Vasquez (Honda SaxoPrint-RTG) in 2014

Provisional ranking of the World Championship:

1 Joan MIR-Honda 271 points

2 Romano FENATI-Honda 191

3 Aron CANET-Honda 173

4 Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO-Honda 137

5 Jorge MARTIN-Honda 134

6 John MCPHEE-Honda 106

7 Marcos RAMIREZ-KTM 105

8 Andrea MIGNO-KTM 103

9 Enea BASTIANINI-Honda 103

10 Philipp OETTL-KTM 91

11 Juanfran GUEVARA-KTM 75

12 Nicolo BULEGA-KTM 72

13 Bo BENDSNEYDER-KTM 48

14 Livio LOI-Honda 47

15 Tatsuki SUZUKI-Honda 46

…18 Jules DANILO-Honda 29

Joan Mir will be World Champion this Sunday if…

Joan Mir wins or finishes 2nd

Joan Mir ranks 3rd and Romano Fenati does not win the race

Joan Mir ranks 4th or 5th and Romano Fenati does not do better than 3rd

Joan Mir ranks 6th, 7th or 8th and Romano Fenati is not on the podium

Joan Mir ranks 9th or 10th and Romano Fenati finishes in 5th position or beyond

Joan Mir ranks 11th and Romano Fenati finishes in 6th position or beyond

Joan Mir ranks 12th and Romano Fenati finishes in 7th position or beyond

Joan Mir ranks 13th and Romano Fenati finishes in 8th position or beyond

Joan Mir ranks 14th and Romano Fenati finishes in 9th position or beyond

Joan Mir ranks 15th, Romano Fenati finishes in 10th position or higher and Arón Canet does not win

Joan Mir does not enter the points, Romano Fenati finishes in 11th position or beyond and Arón Canet does not win