Moto2 Japan Motegi FP1: Augusto Fernandez the fastest, the rain timidly creeps in..

Before this Japanese Grand Prix, in Aragon, rookie Pedro Acosta won his second victory in Moto2 with Italy. Aged 18 years and 116 days, Acosta became the youngest Moto2 rider with two victories, ahead of Marc Marquez (18 years and 128 days).

Aron canet finished second at MotorLand for his seventh podium of the season so far. It is also his 12th Moto2 podium, tying Stefan Bradl, Lorenzo Baldassarri, Julian Simon and Raul Fernandez for 21st on the list of riders with the most Moto2 podiums.

At the Aragon GP, Augusto Fernandez climbed onto the third step of the podium for the seventh time this season, one more than last year. Aron Canet and Fernandez are now the drivers with the most podiums since the start of the season.

After qualifying in 17th position, Celestino Vietti finished 10th in the Aragon GP, ​​marking the sixth consecutive race where he has missed the podium since winning the Catalan GP.

The 10 Moto2 races that took place in Motegi were won by nine different riders: Toni Elias (2010), Andrea Iannone (2011), Marc Marquez (2012), Pol Espargaró (2013), Tom Lüthi (2014 and 2016), Zarco (2015), Alex Marquez (2017), Bagnaia (2018) and Marini (2019). Only three of them have won from pole: Zarco (2015), Bagnaia (2018) and Marini (2019).

None of the current full-time Moto2 riders have won in the category at Motegi. However, two have won in Moto3 on the circuit: Lorenzo Dalla Porta (2019) and Niccolo Antonelli (2015). Additionally, none of the current Moto2 riders have ever stood on the category podium at Motegi.

The presentations made, what will this FP1 of this sixteenth round of the championship have in store for us? Before answering this question, here is the table which summarizes the facts known so far.

Motegi Moto2™	2019	2022
FP1	1'51.055 Brad Binder	1'50.493 Augusto Fernandez
FP2	1'50.647 Alex Marquez
FP3	2'03.259 Jake Dixon
Q1	2'03.132 Remy Gardner
Q2	2'00.985 Luca Marini
Warm-up	1'50.996 Thomas Lüthi
Course	Marini, Lüthi, Martin
All time lap record	1'49.961 Johann Zarco (2016)

Breaking news..

Dalla Porta will return to Moto2 for the next 2 seasons in the SAG team

Note the return of Sam Lowes.....

Welcome to Japan

Let's go !

The rain is coming...

It is Fairy which signs the reference time in 1.55.505s. Canet regains control in 1.53.637s. He is ahead Fernandez, Dixon and Salac.

fellon gone to the mobile clinic..

FlexBox driver pushes and improves in 1.52.219s. Fernandez, Ogura, Dixon and Acosta complete this provisional top5.

Ogura in turn takes the lead in 1.51.926s. He is taken by Fernandez in 1.51.926s then by Chantra in 1.51.919s.

kick of Kubo in turn 9

Arbolino regains the lead in 1.51.653s.

Technical problem for Kelly in turn 9. Same for Courses who leaves his motorcycle in turn 4

Ogura takes control again in 1.51.197s. Arbolino, Fernandez, Roberts, Chantra, Salac, Dixon, Canet, Acosta and Lopez complete this top 10 with 12 minutes to go.

Ogura improves again and signs a lap time of 1.51.103s. But he gets caught by Fernandez who managed a time of 1.50.610s.

The Japanese at home didn't give up and regained control in 1.50.493s. Chantra invites himself and takes the 2nd best time in 1.50.577s.

Fernandez made the effort and regained control in 1.50.493s.

Kelly, pushes her motorbike, new technical incident..

The rain is coming again.

Fernandez closed the session in the lead in 1.50.493s ahead of Chantra and Acosta.

MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix FP1 results at Motegi:

 

 

 

Classification credit: MotoGP.com