Moto 2 Moto GP
Published on June 16, 2023 • 14:45 PM by Oléna Champlain

Moto2 Germany P2: Tony Arbolino responds in the rain and drying conditions

Germany

Pedro Acosta obtained the best time during the first free practice session of the German Grand Prix of the Moto2 class, seventh race of the 2023 World Championship, scheduled on the Sachsenring slide. The Red Bull Ajo Team driver dominated the competition with a time of 1'23.979, the only one to go under a minute and the "wall" of 24. Behind the Spaniard we find Alonso Lopez (SpeedUp) and Manuel Gonzalez (VR46 MasterCamp), separated by 0,237 s and 0,301 s, respectively.

Filip Salac of Team Gresini Kalex is fourth in front Jake dixon (Aspar), Fermin Aldeguer (SpeedUp) and Joe Roberts (Italtrans). The leader of the world championship, Tony Arbolino, is eighth and worked the entire session with the same set of tires, unlike Acosta who instead put new tires in the final stages. Arbolino is followed by his teammate Sam Lowes and Bo Bendsneyder (SAG), which closes the Top Ten.

Celestine Vietti (Fantic Racing) is 14th, behind Albert Arenas (Red Bull Ajo), Jeremy Alcove (Gresini) and Sean Dylan Kelly (American Racing) and ahead Darryn Binder (Intact GP), Somkiat Chantra (Team Asia) and Sergio Garcia (Pons). Finally, the terrible turn 11 claimed its victims: Aron Canet, Carlo Tatay et Kasma Daniel bin Kasmayudin paid the price, fortunately without major consequences.

This situation taken into account, what will this P2 of the German Grand Prix in the Moto2 category have in store for us? Before you know it, here is the table that summarizes the facts known so far.

Germany Sachsenring Moto2™ 2022

2023
FP1

1'24.222 Augusto Fernández

 1'23.979 Pedro Acosta
FP2

1'24.023 Augusto Fernández

 1'26.859 Tony Arbolino
FP3

1'23.640 Filip Salač
Q1 1'23.786 Celestino Vietti
Q2

1'23.493 Sam Lowes
Warm Up

1'24.426 Albert Arenas
Course A. Fernández, Acosta, Lowes
All time lap record 1'23.397 Raúl Fernández 2021

Wind, a wet track, 15.5° on the ground and 22° on the tarmac are the unexciting conditions offered to the drivers for these 2 minutes of testing.

And off we go… In the rain!

Some prefer to delay by recalling the track conditions.

After 10 minutes, Acosta achieves by far the best laps and leads the standings with seven tenths of a second ahead Darryn Binder relegated to more than a second. 16 drivers have already set a lap time. Then Alonso Lopez, Dixon et Arbolino organize the AJO KTM rider hunt.

The track is still wet, but the spray no longer comes out of the tires everywhere. Whether she completely dries up for MotoGP P2 is questionable. Alone Aron canet hasn't left the box yet. The Spaniard injured two fingers at Mugello and also fell in the morning. Lowes is now out. Acosta, Dixon et Lopez take turns at the top. Lap times continue to improve as an ideal dry line slowly forms.

Then Dixon takes the lead.

Before going out into the gravel trap.

At turn 8, Borja Gomez flies away and is thrown wildly into the gravel bed. But fortunately, the Spaniard quickly got back on his feet. We enter the last five minutes and Acosta sets the benchmark at 1:30,7 minutes. This puts him three tenths of a second faster than Dixon. Canet also took part in training and rose to second place, one second behind before Dixon don't take the position from him. Alonso lopez fall.

Sean Dylan Kelly takes off while accelerating at the exit of the last turn. The following drivers can avoid his motorcycle. Fortunately nothing happened.

The checkered flag is waved and Darryn binder fall. Arbolino wins the session in 1'26.859. Chantra, Ramirez et White close the top 5. Acosta is 14th. But in the combined ranking, he is the leader based on his performance in the morning on a dry track.

Moto2 Germany P2: ranking

Credit classification motogp.com