Moto2 Aragón FP2: Remy Gardner has the last word but Raúl Fernández remains present

Although Remy Gardner arrived as favorite in Aragón following his victory two weeks ago in Great Britain and his lead of 44 points in the championship, the competition promises to be tough. With Sam Lowes, first of all, who won the two Aragonese rounds last year and dominated the entire first free practice session this morning. He was nevertheless beaten in the final minutes by Jorge Navarro, in great form after his return to the podium at Silverstone.

The Australian was still in the mix since he concluded FP1 in fifth place, only two places ahead of Raúl Fernández, his teammate and main opponent in the championship, physically diminished with an injury to his right hand contracted in training this week . The Spaniard seemed to suffer a little but did the job. Will he be able to continue on this path or will he have to slow down because of the pain? This is what we will see now with the second free practice session.

Here is the summary table:

Aragon Moto2™	2020	2021
FP1	1'52.623 Augusto Fernández	1'53.100 Jorge Navarro
FP2	1'51.920 Sam Lowes	1'52.743 Remy Gardner
FP3	1'51.576 Sam Lowes
Q1	1'51.933 Bo Bendsneyder
Q2	1'51.296 Sam Lowes
Warm up	1'52.167 Sam Lowes
Course	Lowes, Di Giannantonio, Bastianini
All time lap record	1'51.296 Sam Lowes

 

Temperatures have logically risen since this morning, and peak at 27 degrees in the air and 44 degrees on the track. Marco Bezzecchi (Kalex, SKY Racing Team VR46, #72) set the reference time in 1'54.021, but from the second lap, Sam Lowes (Kalex, Elf Marc VDS, #22) takes the lead in 1'53.224. The Italian manages to regain his position on the next lap and improves by almost two tenths.

After ten minutes of session, Lowes leads again, in 1'53.005, in front Bezzecchi et Fabio Di Giannantonio (Kalex, Federal Oil Gresini, #21). Come next Marcel Schrötter (Kalex, Liqui Moly Intact GP, #23), Remy gardner (Kalex, Red Bull KTM Ajo, #87), Simone Courses (MV Agusta, MV Agusta Forward Racing, #24) and Jorge Navarro (Boscoscuro, MB Conveyors Speed ​​Up, #9), leader of FP1. Xavi Virgo (Kalex, Petronas Sprinta Racing, #97), Joe Roberts (Kalex, Italtrans Racing Team, #16) and Aron Canet (Boscoscuro, Solunion Aspar team, #44) complete the top 10.

Raul Fernandez (Kalex, Red Bull KTM Ajo, #25) finally comes out of his box. On track, Lowes is the first to go below the 1'53 mark but Bezzecchi is not far away, only 55 thousandths behind.

At mid-session, the top 10 is the same, only a few names have changed. Lowes, Bezzecchi et By Giannantonio are always in the lead, in front Schrötter et Gardner. Marcos Ramirez (Kalex, American Racing, #42) got into sixth place, right under the nose of Courses. Behind, Augusto Fernández (Kalex, Elf Marc VDS, #37) did the same in eighth position and pushed back NAVARRO et Virgin.

15 minutes from the end, NAVARRO loses the front in turn 14. For his part, Raul Fernandez seems to have more difficulty than this morning and is for the moment the last qualifier for provisional Q2.

 

 

Ramirez goes back to third, starting the run of the last ten minutes. Augusto Fernandez takes the lead in the session for a few moments before being overtaken by Gardner. Nicholas Bulega (Kalex, Federal Oil Gresini Moto2, #11) takes fifth place and the young Fermin Aldeguer (Boscoscuro, MB Conveyors Speed ​​Up, #54) in eighth place.

Celestine Vietti (Kalex, Sky Racing Team VR46, #13) makes a mistake, whileAlbert Arenas (Boscoscuro, Solunion Aspar Team, #75) took fifth place. Raúl Fernández, who took several long breaks in his box, finally improved his time. First tenth, he then moved up to third position. John mcphee widens then falls two minutes from the end (Kalex, Petronas Sprinta Racing, #17).

 

 

Positions no longer change until the checkered flag, and that's good Remy gardner who has the last word Augusto Fernandez et Raúl Fernández. Fabio DiGiannantonio et Sam Lowes close the top 5.

 

 

 

FP2 results of the Aragón Moto2 Grand Prix:

Classification credit: MotoGP.com