Moto2 Spain FP3: Remy Gardner takes control

Between Remy Gardner in the morning and Sam Lowes in the afternoon, the Friday of this fourth meeting of the season in Moto2 gave pride of place to the duellists identified during the first two rounds in Qatar. But the hierarchy is far from being fixed with in particular Raul Fernandez who has every intention of making his first year at this level that of the coronation. Behind, there are still many pushing at the gate…

Things didn't start off well for Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing) at Jerez. Left at fault in FP1 and led by the pair Remy Gardner (Red Bull KTM Ajo) Marco Bezzecchi (Sky Racing Team VR46), the Englishman was however able to rectify the situation by FP2, so as to end this first day in the lead.

In fact, there were only four of them to improve among the top ten: Jake dixon (Petronas Sprinta Racing), Joe Roberts (Italtrans Racing Team) and Nicholas Bulega (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2), respectively credited with the third, fifth and tenth times, cumulatively over these two sessions.

For lack of being able to increase his pace, Remy Gardner therefore fell back into second position, one tenth of this reference in 1'41.515, established by Sam Lowes. Marco Bezzecchi found itself in the same way fourth, interposed between Jake Dixon which conversely gained no less than seven places, compared to the morning, and Joe Roberts. Raúl Fernández (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and Jorge Navarro (Lightech Speed ​​Up) inherited sixth and seventh combined times.

Fabio DiGiannantonio (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2), Augusto Fernandez (ELF Marc VDS Racing) and Nicholas Bulega (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) completed the Top 10. Somkiat Chantra (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia), Xavi Verge (Petronas Sprinta Racing), Marcel Schrötter (Liqui Moly Intact GP) and Stefano manzi (Flexbox HP40) would also be directly qualified for Q2, barring changes in FP3.

Exactly, what will this last free practice session have in store for us? Before answering this question, here is the table which summarizes the facts known so far.

Jerez Moto2™	2020	2021
FP1	1'41.525 Marco Bezzecchi	1'41.675 Remy Gardner
FP2	1'41.992 Luca Marini	1'41.515 Sam Lowes
FP3	1'41.175 Jorge Martin	1'40.841 Remy Gardner
Q1	1'41.740 Enea Bastianini
Q2	1'41.728 Marco Bezzecchi
Warm Up	1'41.248 Sam Lowes
Course	Bastianini, Marini, Bezzecchi
All time lap record	1'41.109 Marcel Schrötter (2020)	1'40.841 Remy Gardner

 

It is Lowes who takes the reference time in 1.41.496s ahead of Baldassari, Chantra, Bulega and Bezzecchi. Lowes pushes again and beats the track record by 4 tenths in 1.41.078s

Fall ofArenas in turn 11. In turn, Chantra makes a mistake in the same turn.

Gardner returns to business by positioning himself 2nd best time in 1.41.118s behind Lowes. Bezzecchi, Raul Fernandez and Augusto Fernandez bring up the rear of the top5.

The 14 drivers who are provisionally qualified for Q2 with 24 minutes to go are as follows: Lowes, Gardner, Bezzecchi, R. Fernandez, A. Fernandez, Gi Giannantonio, Ogura, Baldassari, Chantra, Corsi, Bulega, Schrotter, Roberts, Dixon

But where is Schrotter??

The top5 is as follows with 11 minutes to go: Lowes, Gardner, Bezzecchi, Di Giannantonio and. R. Fernandez.

kick of Baldassari in turn 6. Courses also goes to the mat in turn 11.

Virgin made the effort and came to position himself in 4th place with a lap time of 1.41.342s.

NAVARRO 4 minutes before the end of the session passes the 1,41 mark and at the same time beats the track record in 1.40.912s.

By Giannantonio imitates him in the effort and takes rank 2 with his time clocked in 1.40.959s. The Gresini driver improved further and set a time of 1.40.861s.

kick of Canet in viarge 10

Last minute and Gardner takes the lead of the troops by setting the best time in 1.40.841s.

End of session and it's Gardner who finishes with the best time in front Di Giannantonio, Navarro, Roberts and R. Fernandez. 

The 14 qualifiers for Q2 are: Gardner, Di Giannantonio, Navarro, Roberts, R. Fernandez, Lowes, Bezzecchi, Schrotter, A. Fernandez, Dixon, Areans, Virginie, Canet and Ogura.

Moto2 Spain FP3: times

Credit classification motogp.com