#MalaysianGP Moto2 FP2: Alex Marquez takes the spotlight from Oliveira

Coming off his resounding victory at Phillip Island in a rookie KTM which scored an equally remarkable double, Miguel Oliveira had taken control of this start of the Malaysian Moto2 meeting. Was the Portuguese going to confirm on a wet track which had been the playground of Moto3 and MotoGP? The track was at 26° and the air at 25°.   

While waiting for the response, here is the summary of the facts in table:

 

#MalaysianGP Moto2™ FP1	2016	2017
FP1	2'10.121 Tom Lüthi	2'06.856 Miguel Oliveira
FP2	2'08.816 Franco Morbidelli
FP3	2'07.283 Takaaki Nakagami
Qualification	2'18.621 Johann Zarco
Warm Up	2'09.750 Franco Morbidelli
Course	Zarco, Morbidelli, Folger (see here)
All time lap record	2'06.383 Tom Lüthi 2015

 

The Indonesian Dimas Ekky Pratama replaced NAVARRO injured and De Angelis did the same on the motorcycle Simeon. We will also recall that the sudden death of Stefan Kiefer made the team's Suter orphans and plunged the entire paddock into sadness.

All in their duel for the title, Lüthi et Morbidely were already measuring themselves by taking the first two places from the start, the Swiss ahead of the Italian with a time of 2'26.877. Nagashima suffered a big crash at turn 3 and struggled to recover. Olive tree at the same time signed a 2'26.066 which put him back at the top of the timesheet.

Not for long, since Lüthi quickly achieved a 2'25.297 while Virgin invited himself to the feast by placing his Mistral 610 in second row. Axel Pons fell at turn 9. Augusto Fernandez imitated him shortly after in the same place.

We stayed there until the start of the last quarter of an hour when a Olive tree to his advantage with a 2'24.849. Lüthi responded with a 2'24.659 which did not impress the Portuguese who responded with a 2'24.139. No one, apart from the two of them, could drive in less than 2'25 per lap, ten minutes from the checkered flag.

The debutant and replacement for Navarro, Ekky Pratama, fell at turn 1 after taking a good thirteenth time. In the last minute, Alex Marquez came out of the woods with a 2'24.074 while De Angelis fell at turn 13.

Olive tree was therefore content with second place in front Baldassarri et Lüthi. Next Virgin, Morbidely, Marini, Cortese Schrotter et Pasini.

#MalaysianGP Moto2 FP2: Chonos

1	73	Alex MARQUEZ	Kalex	2'24.074
2	7	Lorenzo BALDASSARRI	Kalex	2'24.108	0.034 / 0.034
3	44	Miguel OLIVEIRA	KTM	2'24.139	0.065 / 0.031
4	12	Thomas LUTHI	Kalex	2'24.659	0.585 / 0.520
5	97	Xavi VIRGIN	Tech 3	2'25.023	0.949 / 0.364
6	21	Frank MORBIDELLI	Kalex	2'25.039	0.965 / 0.016
7	10	Luca MARINI	Kalex	2'25.089	1.015 / 0.050
8	11	Sandro CORTESE	Suter	2'25.968	1.894 / 0.879
9	23	Marcel SCHROTTER	Suter	2'25.992	1.918 / 0.024
10	54	Matthias PASINI	Kalex	2'26.070	1.996 / 0.078
11	87	Remy GARDNER	Tech 3	2'26.604	2.530 / 0.534
12	37	Augusto FERNANDEZ	Speed ​​Up	2'26.691	2.617 / 0.087
13	24	Simone COURSES	Speed ​​Up	2'26.760	2.686 / 0.069
14	41	Brad BINDER	KTM	2'26.896	2.822 / 0.136
15	40	Fabio QUARTARARO	Kalex	2'27.234	3.160 / 0.338
16	26	Dimas EKKY PRATAMA	Kalex	2'27.392	3.318 / 0.158
17	57	Edgar PONS	Kalex	2'27.409	3.335 / 0.017
18	55	Hafiz Syahrin	Kalex	2'27.475	3.401 / 0.066
19	2	Jesko RAFFIN	Kalex	2'27.612	3.538 / 0.137
20	5	Andrea LOCATELLI	Kalex	2'27.639	3.565 / 0.027
21	89	Khairul Idham PAWI	Kalex	2'27.662	3.588 / 0.023
22	30	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	Kalex	2'27.779	3.705 / 0.117
23	32	Isaac VIÑALES	Kalex	2'27.854	3.780 / 0.075
24	42	Francesco Bagnaia	Kalex	2'28.389	4.315 / 0.535
25	15	Alex DE ANGELIS	Kalex	2'28.899	4.825 / 0.510
26	49	Axel PONS	Kalex	2'29.086	5.012 / 0.187
27	27	Iker LECUONA	Kalex	2'29.391	5.317 / 0.305
28	45	Tetsuit NAGASHIMA	Kalex	2'29.859	5.785 / 0.468
29	62	Stefano MANZI	Kalex	2'29.904	5.830 / 0.045