Moto2 Aragon-2 FP1: Lowes and Fernandez, Count Marc van der Straten is jubilant!

Since the last meeting in Aragon last weekend, everything has almost been reset in a Moto2 championship that is more open than ever. However, there are only four races left, including this Grand Prix of Teruel which promises to be under high tension between three drivers united in less than ten points...

During the Aragon Grand Prix, Sam Lowes (Kalex, EG 0,0 Marc VDS) achieved his second Moto2 victory, as well as his fifth success since 2016. Lowes became the second Briton to achieve back-to-back Moto2 victories with Scott Redding in 2013 (France/Italy). At the Teruel Grand Prix, he will aim to become the first Briton to take three wins in three successive races in the category since Phil Read in 1971 (from the West German GP to the Dutch TT).

This is also the fourth time that Lowes stood on the Moto2 podium, making him the first Briton to have four podiums in four successive races in the class since Rodney Gould in 1972.

Enea Bastianini (Kalex, Italtrans Racing Team) finished second last Sunday. It was his sixth podium of the season. With both Sky VR46 drivers  Luca marini et Marco Bezzecchi having crashed, he is now leading the Championship for the first time since Brno.

George Martin (Kalex, Red Bull KTM Ajo) finished third for his sixth Moto2 podium and fourth of the season at the Aragon GP. It's his first podium since coming second at the Styrian GP, ​​although he crossed the finish line first. Jake dixon (Kalex, Petronas Sprinta Racing) finished fourth at the Aragon GP, ​​which is his best Grand Prix result so far.

The 11 Moto2 races in Aragon were won by nine riders: Andrea Iannone (2010) Marc Marquez (2011) Espargaro Pol (2012) Nico Terol (2013) Maverick Vinales (2014) Tito Rabat (2015) Sam Lowes (2016, 2020/1), Franco Morbidelli (2017) Brad Binder (2018, 2019).

Sam Lowes (2016) is the only current Moto2 rider who has won in the class at MotorLand. Simone Corsi (2011) Lorenzo Baldassarri (2018) Jorge Navarro (2019) which dropped last week, Enea Bastianini (2020/1) and George Martin (2020/1) are the only others to reach the podium at MotorLand in Moto2.

What will this tenth round have in store for us, still in Aragon, but for a Teruel Grand Prix? Before answering this question, here is the table which summarizes the facts known so far…

Teruel Moto2	Aragon-1	Aragon-2
FP1	1'53.391 Sam Lowes	1'52.623 Augusto Fernandez
FP2	1'52.748 Fabio Di Giannantonio
FP3	1'52.171 Fabio Di Giannantonio
Q1	1'52.630 Jorge Martin
Q2	1'51.651 Sam Lowes
Warm up	1'52.687 Sam Lowes
Course	Lowes, Bastainini, Martin
All time lap record	1'51.651 Sam Lowes 2020

The sun is shining and the temperatures of 20° in the air and 23° on the asphalt are almost perfect as the track opens for this first 40-minute free practice session of the intermediate category in Aragon.

Luca marini establishes the first very provisional reference in 1'54.036 before handing over to Sam Lowes in 1'53.765, 153348.

Jorge Navarro (Speed ​​Up, +Ego Speed ​​Up) begins the list of crashes at turn #8, the first right turn after a long series of lefts.

Meanwhile, his teammate Fabio di Giannantonio (Speed ​​Up, +Ego Speed ​​Up) then Sam Lowes accelerates the pace to a small 53 before the Briton registers 1'52.778 despite his hard rear tire.

If we quickly find the five well-known names at the top of the ranking which are Lowes, Di Giannantonio, Bezzecchi, Marini, and Bastianini, the presence ofHector Garzo (Kalex, Flex-Box Pons HP 40) andEdgar Pons (Kalex, Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) confirms their progress…

At the end of the first run, the top 10 is completed by Marcel Schrötter (Kalex, Liqui Moly Intact GP), Augusto Fernandez (Kalex, EG 0,0 Marc VDS) and Lorenzo Baldassarri (Kalex, Flex-Box Pons HP 40).

Remy gardner (Kalex, Onexox TKKR SAG Team) moved to seventh position halfway through the session before the very frustrated rider from the last race Jake dixon (Kalex, Petronas Sprinta Racing) jumps to fifth place.

We practice getting close to the limits of the track…

12 minutes from the end of the session, Jorge Navarro erases the consequences of his fall by positioning himself fourth.

Equipped with a soft tire at the rear, Augusto Fernandez (Kalex, EG 0,0 Marc VDS) tries to dislodge his teammate whose time was achieved with a hard tire, but misses and goes out on the green part beyond the curbs. This does not disturb the Briton who continues to record very interesting times with his old hard tire...

As the checkered flag approaches, Augusto Fernandez puts his work back on the table and clocks a 1'52.623 thanks to his soft rear tire: Count Marc van der Straten must be jubilant!

FP1 classification of the Teruel Moto2 Grand Prix:

Classification credit: MotoGP.com