Moto2 Italy FP: Fermin Aldeguer sets the tone

After a Catalan Grand Prix made difficult by the need to demonstrate excellent tire management, Moto2 is heading towards the technical Mugello track, to compete in the Italian Grand Prix. In the championship, Sergio Garcia took advantage of his victory in Barcelona to widen the gap over Joe Roberts. The American is now nineteen lengths behind the lead, while he sees the return of Ai Ogura, whose last races were successful.

Before we begin, here is a summary table of the known facts: 

The session begins, and the first fall of the weekend is by Ayumu Sasaki. Having made a mistake at turn 1, the Spaniard ended up in the gravel, which caused him to lose considerable time.

The times continue and Manuel Gonzalez quickly sets his mark in 1:52.100, which remains relatively slow compared to that which Pedro Acosta recorded during the first session of the weekend last year (1:50.928).

Fermin Aldeguer struggles to find his feet at the start of FP, and only ranks 12th after everyone's first attempts. This is also the case for Ai Ogura who is only 17th 20 minutes from the end of the session.

Joe Roberts and Sergio Garcia, on the other hand, are in the mix, and complete laps barely slower than that of Gonzalez. Barry Baltus started the day positively, and quickly threatened to enter the top-10, like his time of 1:52.745 which propelled him into 11th provisional position.

After the lull, the drivers return to the track, and things move quickly. Tony Arbolino announced it, he will take advantage of this Italian Grand Prix to reveal the full extent of his potential. 10 minutes from the end of the session, the Italian was the first to break Gonzalez's mark by completing a lap under minute 52.

Barry Baltus and Jaume Masia will follow, without managing to do better than Arbolino. Somkiat Chantra will erase the time of the Marc VDS driver crossing the start/finish line in 1:51.380.

During the last ten minutes, the times drop drastically, and the mark set by Pedro Acosta last year is no longer safe. While he was very close to matching Acosta's mark, Alonso Lopez crashed in turn 14, causing yellow flags in sector 4 two minutes from the end of the session. An incident which explains his twentieth final position.

In front of the checkered flag, Fermin Adeguer established himself as the fastest driver in this session, thanks to a time set a few minutes earlier in 1:51.311.

Tony Arbolino managed to maintain his third place, while Barry Baltus finished the session in sixth place. A good start to the weekend which gives both men hope that the Italian meeting will mark their return to the forefront after a tumultuous start to the season.

Jake Dixon finished fourth, and got off to a good start after regaining his confidence in Catalunya. Note the superb seventh place of Jaume Masia, who signed one of his best test sessions of the year from a scorer's point of view.

Results from P1 of the Italian Moto2 Grand Prix at Mugello:

Classification credit: MotoGP.com