Moto2 Le Mans France FP2: Sam Lowes in leader, bursts of falls

Moto2 had been varnished on this Friday morning of its French Grand Prix since the category was able to benefit from a dry track on the Bugatti circuit. Aron Canet took the opportunity to mark his territory even though he was unable to be part of the party last year due to an injury. The Spaniard was ahead of the equally surprising Manzi while Sam Lowes, regular in his lap series, was third and by far the fastest of the candidates for the title. However, Fabio Di Giannantonio, winner in Spain, was fourth ahead of the Englishman's teammate Augusto Fernandez...

For its part, the Petronas Sprinta Racing team made a group shot, as evidenced by their sixth and seventh place in Xavi Verge and Jake dixon. As a reminder, the last city had seen all its hopes of victory disappear on this track last year... five loops from the goal.

Marcel Schrötter (Liqui Moly Intact GP), Remy gardner (Red Bull KTM Ajo), who leads the Championship and Hafiz Syahrin (NTS RW Racing GP) completed the Top 10 of this session, among other things marked by the fall of Marco Bezzecchi (Sky Racing Team VR46), only 22nd in the hierarchy. Raul Fernandez was 19th.

What will this FP2 have in store for us? Before answering this question, here is the table which summarizes the facts known so far.

Moto2™ Le Mans	2020	2021
FP1	1'51.279 Kasma Daniel	Aron Canet 1'37.535
FP2	1'37.400 Jorge Martin	Sam Lowes 1'36.307s
FP3	1'36.490 Joe Roberts
Q1	1'36.731 Enea Bastianini
Q2	1'36.256 Joe Roberts
Warm Up	1'36.859 Sam Lowes
Course	Lowes, Gardner, Bezzecchi
All time lap record	1'36.188 Francesco Bagnaia 2018

It's 15° in the air and 15,2° on the track. This FP2 will take place under overcast skies even if the sun tries to break through.

Bezzecchi shoots straight at the start of the session, he doesn't fall and leaves straight away.

It is By Giannantonio who took the lead by setting the best time in 1.38.376s. He is taken by Lowes in 1.37.287s. R. Fernandez, A. Fernandez, Di Giannantonio and Gardner make up the top5

kick of By Giannantonio in turn 8.

Alternately, R. Fernandez and A.Fernandez took the lead by setting a lap time of 1.36.904s. The Marc VDS driver pushes and improves further with his time of 1.36.605s.

With 25 minutes to go, the 14 qualified for Q2 are: A.Fernandez, R.Fernandez, Gardner, Bezzecchi, Lowes, Schrotter, Di Giannantonio, Virgo, Corsi, Navarro, Chantra, Baldassari, Manzi and Canet.

kick of Baldassari in turn 7

Luthi climbs the rankings and enters the Top14 and a place in Q2.

Lowes, the British took the lead in 1.36.439s. He is ahead A. Fernandez, R. Fernandez, Gardner and Bulega. I7min left in this FP2 session

Last year's winner pushed again and improved in 1.36.307s. The track record is close (1.36.188s in 2018 held by bagnaia)

Fall ofArenas in turn 9. Marcon also on the carpet in the Dunlop chicane. Fall of Syarhin in turn 12. Dixon fell in turn in turn 9. Chantra also makes a mistake in turn 3. Roberts also gets involved.

The wind is obviously to blame...6 falls in less than 5 minutes!

kick of Drive in turn 13. Ramirez also ends up on the ground.

End of session and it's Lowes who emerges as a boss in 1.36.307s ahead R. Fernandez, Bezzecchi, A. Fernandez and Gardner. Bulega, Ogura, Virgo, Manzi, Navarro, Canet, Schrotter, Di Giannantonio, and Ramirez bring up the rear of the 14 qualified for Q2.

Full results:

Credit classification motogp.com