Moto2 Italy – P1: Somkiat Chantra surprises his opponents

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: 

Moto2™ Italy, Mugello	2023	2024
FP	1'50.928 Pedro Acosta	1'51.311 Fermin Aldeguer
P1	1'51.170 Pedro Acosta	1'50.841 Somkiat Chantra
P2	1'50.514 Pedro Acosta
Q1	1'51.438 Joe Roberts
Q2	1'50.796 Arón Canet
Course	Acosta, Arbolino, Dixon (See here)
All time lap record	1'50.514 Pedro Acosta (2023)

P1:

The sky is still clear above the Mugello circuit, and the drivers set off for P1. The aim here is to secure a place among the top fourteen in order to secure a place in Q2.

From the first passages, Sergio Garcia took control of the session and recorded a time of 1:51.119. As in the morning, Somkiat Chantra had a good first part of the session and took provisional second place, Fermin Aldeguer was then 6th, Joe Roberts 4th. (Rankings after ten minutes below.)

Joe Roberts was the first driver of the weekend to seriously threaten to go under the 51 minute mark, 12 minutes from the end of the time limit. The American set a time of 1:51.039, which set the tone for the others. The peloton then began to improve drastically.

However, it was once again Joe Roberts who broke the benchmark, completing a lap in 1:50.967, and then in 1:50.852.

However, this is not enough to stop Somkiat Chantra, who is also determined to claim the honors of reigning at the top of the table. A few moments later, the top-5, completed by Barry Baltus, was separated by two tenths.

Mario Aji suffered an impressive fall five minutes from the end of the session in turn 14, definitely tricky for the drivers this Friday. An incident which gave rise to brief yellow flags.

In front of the checkered flag, no one will be able to beat the No. 35 who set the best time of this P1 in 1:50.841.

Joe Roberts finished second, ahead of Fermin Aldeguer, while Alonso Lopez bounced back in the best possible way after his crash this morning. No. 21 ranks fourth.

Barry Baltus confirms his good form during this P1, and offers himself a promising sixth time for the rest of the weekend. The Italian Grand Prix is ​​currently more complicated regarding his teammate. Zonta Van der Goorbergh finished this session in 17th position.

Tony Arbolino also seems to have found the solution at the start of the meeting. The regional of the stage ranks ninth, only four tenths from the lead.

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

Classification credit: MotoGP.com