Moto2 Losail Qatar FP2: with Joe Roberts, it’s America!

Tom Lüthi honored his status as a veteran of the Moto2 peloton by taking over the first free practice session of the season this morning at Losail. Because there is indeed a Grand Prix underway in Qatar and this category will be the highlight of the show due to the absence of a MotoGP, collateral damage of the Coronavirus epidemic. Behind the Swiss we find Jorge Martin and Augusto Fernandez, who are clearly candidates for the title. Certainly, but between the two, closing the leading trio, it is Aron Canet the beginner who is already entering the big leagues. This is promising!

During this early morning start near Doha, Virgin, Baldassarri, Bastianini et Jorge Navarro experienced the pangs of the fall. They will therefore be keen to show their best before finishing their Friday.

 

Will they succeed at the end of this FP2? Before answering this question, here are the available references:

Moto2™ Losail Qatar	2019	2020
FP1	1'59.591 Marcel Schrötter	1'59.168 Tom Lüthi
FP2	1'58.635 Lorenzo Baldassarri	1'58.421 Joe Roberts
FP3	1'59.596 Jorge Martin
Q1	1'59.154 Luca Marini
Q2	1'58.585 Marcel Schrötter
warm up	1'59.195 Remy Gardner
Course	Baldassarri, Lüthi, Schrötter
All time lap record	1'58.635 Lorenzo Baldassarri 2019	1'58.421 Joe Roberts

 

21° in the air and 25° on the track are the conditions offered to the drivers. It is now dark on the Losail route. We will observe how a Sam Lowes certainly declared fit, but suffering martyrdom with his affected shoulder...

 

 

Here are the conditions worthy of a Qatar Grand Prix…

 

 

After five minutes, Tom Lüthi made a mistake in turn 14, a fast sector. Luca marini, for its part, signs the first reference in 1'59.201. Schrötter, Joe Roberts, Gardner et Bezzecchi constitute the first top 5.

Nagashima doesn't wait with his Kalex in KTM colors from Ajo to get favorably noticed. here he is in 1'59.081. Canet gets angry at turn 10 against his former Moto3 rival Lorenzo Dalla Porta...

 

 

NAVARRO climbs second, but Augusto Fernández upsets the hierarchy with a 1'59.074 once the first quarter of an hour has passed. Aron Canet is a surprising, but not yet worrying last. Because he does one trick after another. Nagashima improves and sticks to the leader for seven thousandths. Canet goes back to 15th. During this time, Lüthi pleases the commissioners by returning to his box…

 

 

Among the outsiders, we note Joe Roberts closing the top 5 and and Bendsneyder seventh with his NTS. The leader Augusto Fernandez fall 13 minutes from the goal at turn 5. The Moto3 World Champion Dallas Port is penultimate. Lüthi has not returned to the track since his fall.

 

 

Remy gardner remains stunned at turn 1 seven minutes from the checkered flag. He was 14th. It was at that moment that Lüthi gets back on track. Open up climbs third with his Gresini team, and is ahead of the one who replaced him at VR46, i.e. Bezzecchi. Virgin closes the top 5 at NAVARRO et Marini.

 

 

Three minutes from the end, Joe Roberts caused a sensation with his 1'58.421. This is the new track record. Lüthi falls a second time at turn 2. We will leave it there. Bezzecchi et Marini follow the same as Nagashima et Virgin. Fernandez leads the rest of the peloton ahead of a Bendsneyder to follow with its NTS. Martin closes the top 10 and Dogand with its 14th position is virtually in Q2…

 

Moto2 Losail Qatar FP2: times

Classification credit: MotoGP.com