Moto2 – Italy – Qualifying: Joe Roberts takes pole

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	1'49.926 Alonso Lopez
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)

Qualification 1:

Darryn Binder is the first to shine in this Q1 with a time of 1:50.617 which propels him to the forefront. The fight remains close, however, and the first 10 lap within the same second during their first attempts.

However, a hierarchy is emerging, and before starting the second bursts of timed laps, the top 4 is completed by Zonta van der Goorbergh, Filip Salac and Marcos Ramirez. However, the start of Q1 was complicated for Barry Baltus, who only ranked thirteenth.

Only Jeremy Alcoba will be able to shake up the hierarchy in the second part of the session. Coming to clock a time of 1:50.583, the No. 52 propelled himself into Q2, and relegated Filip Salac to fifth place.

The top-3 established in the first part of the session then make up the rest of the qualifiers in Q2.

Barry Baltus does not manage to achieve better than 6th fastest time. He will therefore start from 20th place on the starting grid.

Qualification 2:

Before hostilities begin, a major event disrupts the fight for pole position. Victim of neck pain, Fermin Aldeguer was forced to withdraw from Q2 to undergo medical examinations. A hard blow for the SpeedUP driver who had a good chance of winning this weekend. More information regarding his state of health on the sidelines of the race will arrive during the day.

After dominating P2, Sergio Garcia and Alonso Lopez started the second part of the qualifying session on top. This time, it's No. 3 who goes under minute 50 (1:49.955), while Lopez clocks 1:50.371. Only Manuel Gonzalez managed to slip between the two men to claim provisional second place on the starting grid.

With the exception of Jeremy Alcoba, all the drivers who managed to escape from Q1 leveled the bottom of the standings in Q2. The VR46 Master Camp driver, for his part, managed to promote himself to tenth place.

However, it is the same drivers who will change the situation in the second part of the session, managing to climb into the top-5. Later, it was Joe Roberts who entered the fight for pole, completing an attempt in 1:49.877.

The American establishes an impressive brand that gives its direct competitors a hard time. None of them will be able to improve. The American, who until then had never really threatened to take the lead, took pole for the Italian Moto2 Grand Prix.

 

Sergio Garcia ranks second, while Alonso Lopez snatches the front row from Manuel Gonzalez in front of the checkered flag. Darryn Binder and Marcos Ramirez largely limit the damage of their bad start to Saturday with 5th and 6th places.

Slight disappointment for Tony Arbolino who certainly had better things to do than a 16th place at home, after a promising start to the weekend.

Joe Roberts, poleman of the Italian Moto2 GP:

“I'm super happy, I love this place, but this weekend, I wasn't yet able to pull out all the stops on a lap to put myself in front. It was a great lap, it will surely help us for tomorrow's race. We're going to take advantage of it this evening, but it's Sunday that things count, so we have to quickly deconcentrate. »

Results of the Qualifying of the Italian Moto2 Grand Prix at Mugello:

Classification credit: MotoGP.com