You had to be wide awake today on the Jerez circuit because it was in the very first session of the morning that the conditions were best to achieve the fastest times. In this little game, the two Team Marc VDS teammates Alex Marquez and Franco Morbidelli were the fastest ahead of Miguel Oliveira and Dominique Aegerter, while Fabio Quartararo finished in seventh position.
During the first of three sessions of the day, fabio quartararo was in the lead in 1'42.499 with 45 minutes to go, 0.02 ahead Tom Luthi, 0.2 ahead Franco Morbidelli, 0.3 ahead Alex Marquez and 0.4 ahead Mattia Pasini. This morning session was all the more important as the track temperature was still reasonable enough for a good performance. It was then much too high in the middle of the day, and did not necessarily have time to cool down before the last session (15:20 p.m. to 16:35 p.m.). Stefano manzi, although still suffering from a tendon in his left knee, was riding.
It was the big morning attack and 12 drivers fell below the lap record! The 5 fastest of them even beat the absolute record established for the pole position of the Spanish Grand Prix by Sam Lowes in 1'42.408. Indeed Alex Marquez clocked 1'41.989, 0.114 ahead of teammate Franco Morbidelli, 0.344 ahead of Miguel Oliveira, 0.347 ahead of Dominique Aegerter and 0.387 ahead of Jorge Navarro. Quartararo was in seventh position at 0.510. We will simply keep a little perspective on this avalanche of performances by remembering that each team used the engine and tires it wanted, the final engines not being available yet.
Results of the first session:
1 Alex Marquez-EG 0.0 Marc VDS (Kalex) 1'41.989
2 Franco Morbidelli-EG 0.0 Marc VDS (Kalex) 1'42.103
3 Miguel Oliveira-Red Bull KTM Ajo (KTM) 1'42.333
4 Dominique Aegerter-Kiefer Racing (Suter) 1'42.336
5 Jorge Navarro-Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 (Kalex) 1'42.376
6 Mattia Pasini-Italtrans Racing Team (Kalex) 1'42.474
7 Fabio Quartararo-Pons HP 40 (Kalex) 1
8 Axel Pons-RW Racing GP (Kalex) 1'42.500
9 Thomas Luthi-Carxpert Interwetten (Kalex) 1'42.523
10 Takaaki Nakagami-Idemitsu Honda Team Asia (Kalex) 1’42.626
Reference times:
Test record: 1'42.408 by Sam Lowes (Kalex) in 2016
Lap record: 1'42.876 by Jonas Folger (Kalex) in 2014
During the second of three sessions, Tom Luthi initially took the lead in 1'42.880, then Franco Morbidelli improved to 1'42.730. Xavi Verge then occupied fifth position on his Mistral Tech 3. Dominique Aegerter sixth and Miguel Oliveira seventh continued to do quite well with their new bikes, Suter for the Swiss and KTM for the Portuguese.
Alex Marquez then took first place in 1'42.545, 0.1 ahead of Takaaki Nakagami and Franco Morbidelli, 0.3 ahead of Miguel Oliveira and Tom Lüthi, and 0.4 ahead Fabio Quartararo sixth.
Results of the second session:
1 Alex Marquez-EG 0.0 Marc VDS (Kalex) 1'42.545
2 Takaaki Nakagami-Idemitsu Honda Team Asia (Kalex) 1'42.681
3 Franco Morbidelli-EG 0.0 Marc VDS (Kalex) 1'42.730
4 Miguel Oliveira-Red Bull KTM Ajo (KTM) 1'42.874
5 Thomas Luthi-Carxpert Interwetten (Kalex) 1'42.880
6 Fabio Quartararo-Pons HP 40 (Kalex) 1
7 Edgar Pons-Pons HP 40 (Kalex) 1m'43.162
8 Axel Pons-RW Racing GP (Kalex) 1'43.182
9 Hafiz Syahrin-Petronas Raceline Malaysia (Kalex) 1'43.220
10 Dominique Aegerter-Kiefer Racing (Suter) 1'43.35
During the third and final session, Takaaki Nakagami set the tone in 1'42.885, 0.1 ahead Franco Morbidelli and a full second ahead Tom Luthi. Obviously, everyone was waiting for the last minutes and a fresher track to get the ball rolling. fabio quartararo livened up the live timing by going third 12 minutes from the final checkered flag, 0.174 behind leader Nakagami. But the Japanese picked up the pace in 1'42.496. He finally finished first in this third session, 0.3 ahead of Quartararo and 0.5 ahead of Morbidelli.
Results of the third day:
1- Alex Marquez – EG 0,0 Marc VDS – KALEX Moto2 – 1’41.989
2- Franco Morbidelli – EG 0,0 Marc VDS – KALEX Moto2 – + 0.114
3- Miguel Oliveira – Red Bull KTM Ajo – KTM Moto2 – + 0.344
4- Dominique Aegerter – Kiefer Racing – Suter MMX2 – + 0.347
5- Jorge Navarro – Federal Oil Gresini Moto2 – KALEX Moto2 – + 0.387
6- Mattia Pasini – Italtrans Racing Team – KALEX Moto2 – + 0.485
7- Takaaki Nakagami – IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia – KALEX Moto2 – + 0.507
8- Fabio Quartararo – Pons HP 40 – KALEX Moto2 – + 0.510
9- Axel Pons – RW Racing GP – KALEX Moto2 – + 0.511
10- Thomas Luthi – carXpert Interwetten – KALEX Moto2 – + 0.534
11- Luca Marini – Forward Racing Team – KALEX Moto2 – + 0.703
12- Danny Kent – Kiefer Racing – Suter MMX2 – + 0.771
13- Yonny Hernandez – AGR Team – KALEX Moto2 – + 0.888
14- Hafizh Syahrin – Petronas Raceline Malaysia – KALEX Moto2 – + 0.906
15- Edgar Pons – Pons HP 40 – KALEX Moto2 – + 0.908
16- Khairul Idham Pawi – IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia – KALEX Moto2 – + 0.988
17- Xavi Virgo – Tech 3 Racing – Tech 3 Mistral 610 – + 1.014
18- Xavier Simeon – Tasca Racing Scuderia Moto2 – KALEX Moto2 – + 1.089
19- Simone Corsi – Speed Up Racing – Speed Up SF7 – + 1.096
20- Tetsuta Nagashima – Teluru SAG Team – KALEX Moto2 – + 1.146
21- Francesco Bagnaia – Sky Racing Team VR46 – KALEX Moto2 – + 1.181
22- Sandro Cortese – Dynavolt Intact GP – Suter MMX2 – + 1.370
23- Andrea Locatelli – Italtrans Racing Team – KALEX Moto2 – + 1.423
24- Jesko Raffin – Garage Plus Interwetten – KALEX Moto2 – + 1.435
25- Marcel Schrotter – Dynavolt Intact GP – Suter MMX2 – + 1.469
26- Brad Binder – Red Bull KTM Ajo – KTM Moto2 – + 1.510
27- Remy Gardner – Tech 3 Racing – Tech 3 Mistral 610 – + 1.831
28- Isaac Vinales – SAG Team – KALEX Moto2 – + 1.952
29- Iker Lecuona – Garage Plus Interwetten – KALEX Moto2 – + 2.227
30- Axel Bassani – Speed Up Racing – Speed Up SF7 – + 2.580
31- Stefano Manzi – Sky Racing Team VR46 – KALEX Moto2 – + 4.352
Title photo: Alex Marquez (Marc VDS Racing Team)
Above: Fabio Quartararo (Team Sito Pons)
