Moto2 Silverstone Practice: Manuel Gonzalez still on another planet

After a closely contested French GP, the Moto2 riders arrive at the Silverstone circuit for the British Grand Prix. Following his victory at Le Mans, Manuel Gonzalez has a 16-point lead over Aron Canet, who finished third at Le Mans. Jake Dixon, who is racing on home soil this weekend, has had a string of difficult weekends that have left him 34 points behind the leader, under threat from Barry Baltus, who is on the back of two consecutive podium finishes heading into the UK. 

Before we begin, here is a table which summarizes the known facts:

Moto2™ Great Britain, Silverstone	2024	2025
FP1	2'04.021 Aron Canet	2'02.599 Manuel Gonzalez
Practice	2'03.602 Aron Canet	2'02.111 Manuel Gonzalez
FP2	2'03.433 Aron Canet
Q1	2'03.570 Fermin Aldeguer
Q2	2'02.940 Ai Ogura
Course	Dixon, Canet, Vietti (See here)
All time lap record	2'02.940 Ai Ogura (2024)	2'02.599 Manuel Gonzalez

The second session of the weekend is already of crucial importance for the Moto2 riders at Silverstone. As usual, the top 14 in the final standings will be directly promoted to Q2.

Manuel Gonzalez once again took the lead over his rivals at the start of the session, setting a first benchmark time of 2:02.923. The start of the session was also marked by Filip Salac's crash at Turn 15. He was followed by David Alonso, who lost control of his machine at Turn 3 a few moments later.

As was the case in the morning, Manuel Gonzalez's early time was enough to keep him safe for most of the session. However, he finished ahead of Joe Roberts and Jake Dixon, with a smaller margin than this morning, with only a handful of tenths separating them.

Fourth with four minutes remaining in the allotted time, it was Aron Canet's turn to fall. Numerous improvements followed, notably those of Filip Salac and Senna Agius, who took turns propelling themselves to the top of the standings, with Manuel Gonzalez losing the lead.

Things then went all over the place, both on the scoreboard and on the track. Many drivers tried to make final fast attempts, and jostled on the track, not failing to get in each other's way, which had the effect of annoying some. Alonso Lopez was the perfect example. Overtaken by Barry Baltus in the middle of a fast lap, the Spaniard was unable to improve and didn't hesitate to show his displeasure to the Belgian.

As the checkered flag flew, Manuel Gonzalez was unstoppable and once again set the lap record. The Spaniard clocked a time of 2:02.111, putting him back in front. Senna Agius and Filip Salac completed the top three.

While Barry Baltus (5th) and Jake Dixon (8th) qualify for Q2, Aron Canet is the day's biggest loser. Finishing 16th, the Fantic driver will have to go through Q1 where he will face drivers such as Celestino Vietti and Tony Arbolino.

Moto2 will return to the track this Saturday at Silverstone (11:25 – 11:55) for free practice 2, the last session before qualifying for the weekend.

2 Moto202 UK Grand Prix Practice Standings5 at Silverstone:

Classification credit: MotoGP.com